The Spanish Prime Minister arrived in Washington Monday, a day before his meeting with the President of the United States at the White House.

The Spanish Air Force plane with Mariano Rajoy and his delegation landed at Andrews' Air Force Base and he then proceeded to Blair House, the president's guest house, where he stays at Donald Trump's invitation.

On Tuesday he will be meeting with Trump to discuss bilateral relations and international issues such as cooperation in the fight against terrorism, the threats from North Korea and the current situation in Venezuela.

The situation in Catalonia is not part of the agenda of their meeting, although it will be an issue to which both will refer, if not in their talks, it will certainly be mentioned at the subsequent press conference that they will jointly hold.

This is Rajoy' second visit to the White House after a meeting with Barack Obama in Jan. 2014, and he intends to show Trump that Spain wants to be a preferred ally of the United States.

The two leaders will also discuss defense cooperation both bilaterally and within NATO, where Trump has been calling for greater spending from the European partners.

The Spanish government assures that the US administration is aware that Spain is striving to fulfil the commitment made by the members of the Atlantic Alliance to dedicate 2 percent of GDP to defense spending by 2024.