(Washington, 9th) — On Wednesday, U.S. President Trump, during the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, accused Spain of being a "bad partner" in NATO and stated that he would "cut off all trade relations with Spain."
According to Reuters and Xinhua news agency, on Wednesday (July 8), Trump, while meeting with NATO Secretary General Rutte, criticized Spain as a "bad partner" in NATO, accusing Spain of refusing to support raising defense spending to 5% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and had repeatedly criticized Spain for not agreeing to allow the U.S. to use Spanish bases and airspace for military operations against Iran.
Trump then instructed U.S. Treasury Secretary Besent to halt trade with Spain, stating: "I do not want to do any trade with Spain, cut off all trade with Spain, including visits."
U.S. officials revealed that the Treasury Department will work with the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office to study possible embargoes on certain Spanish products in the coming days.
However, as EU trade policy is unified and members cannot conduct trade negotiations with the U.S. individually, legal experts point out that if Trump wants to impose sanctions on Spain alone, he must declare a national emergency and demonstrate that Spain poses a threat to U.S. national security, foreign policy, or the economy.
Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez downplayed the differences between the two sides, saying that he had a "very friendly" conversation with Trump during the summit, mainly discussing the Football World Cup and golf, and that the issue of defense spending was not discussed.
Sánchez reiterated that Spain is a reliable NATO ally and announced that Spain will send more troops to participate in NATO's Arctic defense mission in Finland.
Spanish media, including Radiotelevisión Española, quoted a statement from the Prime Minister’s office in Moncloa Palace saying the Spanish government "views Trump’s remarks calmly," adding that Spanish-American relations are good, and "Spain has no intention of changing this relationship."
The European Commission said it will continue to safeguard the interests of the EU and all its member states and looks forward to the U.S. honoring commitments under the US-EU trade agreement.
The Spanish Prime Minister's office previously stated that Spain had reached an agreement with NATO to allocate 2.1% of its GDP to defense.