President Donald Trump has complained for years about the failure of some North Atlantic Treaty Organization member nations to meet the U.S.-led military alliance's agreed-upon minimum threshold of defense spending.

On Thursday, Trump called out Spain for exactly that reason and suggested that NATO should "throw them out" of the alliance, according to the Daily Mail.

For its part, Spain was defiant in response to Trump's remarks and insisted that the U.S. was "well aware" of how much it spent on its military and that it had fulfilled its pledged benchmark on defense spending.

"Maybe you should throw them out of NATO..."

During an Oval Office meeting on Thursday with the president of Finland, one of NATO's newest member nations, President Trump used the opportunity to highlight the fact that Spain had fallen behind all other members in attempting to reach a newly increased level of defense spending.

According to EuroNews, Trump referenced the NATO summit in June at The Hague, in which the alliance's members agreed to increase defense spending to 5% of Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, up from the previous target of 2%.

"As you know, I requested that they pay five percent, not two percent," Trump said to Finnish President Alexander Stubb. "And most people thought that was not going to happen, and it happened virtually unanimously. We had one laggard. It was Spain. Spain."

"You have to call them and find why are they a laggard, and they're doing well, too," he continued. "You know the funny thing? Because of a lot of the things we've done, they're going fine."

"They have no excuse not to do this, but that's all right," Trump added. "Maybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly."

All members agreed -- but one

According to Politico, NATO members had agreed almost unanimously in June to boost overall military spending to 5% of GDP, which includes at least 3.5% on core defense spending and an additional 1.5% on defense-related expenditures like infrastructure and cyber security.

President Trump praised Finland for its concerted efforts to meet that benchmark and told President Stubb, "You were great about it. Spain has not been. Spain was the one who didn't do it, so I think you people will have to start speaking to Spain."

The outlet noted that Spain has consistently been among the lowest spending nations in the alliance, and as of 2023, only spent less than 1.2% of its GDP on its military. Furthermore, when the spending target was increased in June from 2% to 5%, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez balked and agreed only to boost expenditures to 2.1%, just barely clearing the prior mark.

Spain responds

Per the Daily Mail, Prime Minister Sanchez's office pushed back against President Trump on Thursday, and said in a statement, "Spain is a member of NATO in full right and is committed to NATO. It fulfills its targets just as the U.S. does."

Reuters, which was the first to report on Trump's suggestion that Spain should be booted from NATO over its failure to reach the targeted level of defense spending, noted that Sanchez had said in June that his nation would not even attempt to reach the new 5% threshold because it would be "incompatible with our welfare state and our world vision."

The outlet added that Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles also insisted that Spain had reached its spending goals and said of Trump's remarks, "These statements were made in a specific context, but I know for a fact that the U.S. Armed Forces are well aware of Spain's commitment."