SPAIN’S Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, has revealed that he had a ‘very cordial’ meeting with US president Donald Trump at Monday’s Gaza peace summit in Egypt.
The exchange came days after Trump suggested that Spain should be booted out of NATO for not spending enough on defence.
Speaking to Cadena SER Radio on Tuesday, the Prime Minister commented that they had known each other for many years and have had opportunities to share each others thoughts on more than one occasion.
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Pedro Sanchez said: “It was a very cordial exchange. I have had the opportunity to have several meetings and encounters with him during his first administration, in 2018 and 2019. And the truth is that it was very cordial.”
“They recognise the economic growth that Spain has and the good progress of the Spanish economy,” he added.
That aside he acknowledged that it does not mean that there are no disagreements.
Sanchez continued: “It is true that I have always said it very clearly. We are committed to the defence, to the security of NATO and, at the same time, we are equally committed to the defence of our welfare state.”
“I have led a government who has complied with an agreement unfulfilled by the Rajoy administration and assumed in 2014.”
“This year we have achieved 2% of the defence budget in relation to GDP and we believe that with these budgets we are already responding more than enough to the capabilities that NATO asks of us to face the common challenges we have”.
As Trump’s comment that Spain should be excluded from NATO for not spending 5% of its GDP on defence, Sanchez commented:
“Beyond what may be the obvious discrepancy that we may have in many policies, I believe that relations between the United States and Spain are very positive and very deep.”
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