Trump says he wants ally expelled from critical defense pact: 'Throw them out'

President Donald Trump casually suggested that Spain should be thrown out of the NATO alliance while speaking with the President of Finland at the White House on Thursday.

The remark came while Trump was boasting about how he made most other NATO member states commit to paying 5 percent of their gross domestic product on defense, with Spain being an exception.

"I requested that they pay 5 percent, not 2 percent," said Trump. "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, you know, I think, because of the things we've done. They're doing fine."

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

Trump has long been obsessed with the idea that the 5 percent contribution to defense is a "fee" for membership in NATO that various states have been skipping out on, leaving the United States to pick up the tab.

The United States contributes a larger share of funds to defense than any other NATO member state, and is the only state to ever invoke Article V protection where other states come to its aid, which happened in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Finland is one of the newest member states of NATO, having joined alongside Sweden in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.