Martyn Richard Jones

President Donald Trump’s recent comments about NATO do not indicate a call for collective security reform. Instead, they reveal an intensely transactional view of international partnerships. Urging alliance members to assign as much as 5% of their GDP, an unprecedented figure, to purchasing U.S.-made weaponry and military equipment, Trump has once again reframed global security as a business deal.

Unlike traditional calls for burden-sharing—usually framed in the context of shared responsibility and collective defence—Trump’s rhetoric borders on coercive. Rather than fostering mutual commitment, his proposal resembles a demand for tribute. This top-down mandate benefits U.S. defence contractors and consolidates Washington’s leverage over European partners. Critics argue that this approach undermines the very principles of NATO: unity, strategic coordination, and mutual trust.

Spain has already come under fire, with Trump singling it out for not committing to the proposed defence spending level. He has floated the idea of punitive tariffs, suggesting that failure to comply with his vision of alliance funding could invite economic retaliation. This escalation not only risks alienating key allies but could also provoke a broader rift between the United States and the European Union.

Beneath the bravado lies a recurring theme in Trump’s foreign policy ethos: alliances are useful only insofar as they can be leveraged for financial gain. His language may lack the nuance of diplomatic statecraft. Still, it clearly articulates a worldview in which loyalty is measured in dollars, not shared values or strategic alignment.

In particular, Trump has singled out Spain as an object of his bullying. Clearly, he is irked that Spain has not responded to his bullying by agreeing to pay 5% of Spain’s GDP to the USA. And his reaction has been insolent, conceited and vulgar. Trump has stated that he will punish Spain with special tariffs; what he forgets is that for the USA, the market isn’t just Spain, but the whole of the EU. So, if he thinks he can take on Spain, in reality, he will take on the EU.

Spain, like other countries, has pointed out the flaw in Trump’s plan. His strategy is not based on the additional military requirements of NATO, but on an arbitrary figure of 5%. Which lack facts, reason and logic.

Donald Trump’s latest NATO proposal is less a security strategy and more a geopolitical shakedown. By demanding that all NATO members spend 5% of GDP, an unprecedented and economically destabilising figure, on USA-made arms and delivery systems, Trump is treating allies like clients in a protection racket rather than sovereign partners. It’s not about defence; it’s about tribute.

Markets should take note: this isn’t traditional diplomacy, but rather transactional extortion disguised as foreign policy. Spain has been particularly targeted, with Trump threatening tariffs in retaliation for its refusal to play ball. But the EU is a single market. If he slaps tariffs on Spain, he’s picking a fight with Brussels.

What Trump is selling isn’t security, it’s a unilateral, weaponised trade policy. And the 5% figure? Plucked from the ether. No threat analysis, no NATO consensus, no fiscal logic, just brute rhetoric. Investors should consider what this means for transatlantic trade relations, defence stocks, and the return of Trumpian volatility on the world stage.

Thanks for reading.