The President of the Government did not express his rejection of reaching 5% of GDP during the meeting, while before and after he did. The difference: the presence of the U.S. leader. Pedro Sánchez did not make any plea or argue his rejection to increase military spending beyond 2% of GDP during the NATO leaders' meeting.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says that Spain reached a deal with NATO to be excluded from a 5% of GDP defense spending target

NATO leaders backed a big increase in defense spending on Wednesday that Trump had demanded, but Spain declared that it does not need to meet the goal and can meet its commitments by spending much less.