Trump vows to cut ties with Spain and warns US | Political News
Donald Trump railed against Spain and threatened to cut off commerce with the nation over their NATO contributions.
“In fact, I told Scott (Bessent) to cut off all dealings with Spain,” Trump said. “It started when every European nation, at my request, made 5%, which they should be doing. Everybody was enthusiastic – Germany, everybody – but Spain didn’t do it.”
In response, Trump said Spain revoked the U.S. access to its NATO bases.
“And that’s all right, we can use their bases if we want,” Trump said. “We can just fly in and use it. Nobody is going to tell us not to use it. They were unfriendly.”
NATO members last yr agreed to raise protection spending, with each member agreeing to spend 5% of their GDP by 2035 toward the alliance. Spain was the only member nation of the 32 included in NATO that refused to commit to the spending increase.
Instead, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez gained an exemption, permitting Spain to cap its army funds at about 2.1% of its GDP, an quantity he called “sufficient and realistic.” Spain was already a NATO member, paying the least into protection spending at 1.3% in 2024.
Their refusal to pay more into NATO angered Trump, who in October advised that Spain be thrown out of the alliance.
“You’re going to have to talk to Spain,” Trump told NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte last fall. “Spain is not a team player.”
Spain’s protection minister has beforehand defended her nation’s contributions.
“What matters, and we should say it with pride, is that Spain is a reliable and responsible ally, that it has been in the Atlantic Alliance for 40 years, that it has paid a very high price with the lives of Spanish service members, that it is willing to take part in every mission assigned to it, and that it is making a very important effort in the Spanish and European defense industry, creating jobs and honoring commitments,” Margarita Robles told reporters.
A White House spokesperson teased that Trump was “considering economic consequences” for Spain’s refusal, which Trump appeared to lay out on Tuesday as he hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.
The president said bluntly that the U.S. is “going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
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