Trump threatens trade action on Spain

Washington: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to cut off trade with Spain, accusing the NATO ally of failing to contribute enough to the military alliance and warning that Madrid would face economic consequences if it did not change course.

Speaking alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte ahead of a meeting with alliance leaders in Ankara, Trump singled out Spain while renewing his long-running criticism that some NATO members rely too heavily on US defence spending.

“Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t wanna do any trade business with Spain anymore,” Trump said.

He went further, telling aides: “I’d like you to cut it out. Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate. They don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits.”

Trump argued that the United States had spent heavily protecting European allies while receiving little support in return.

“We spent over a trillion dollars over the last short period… in order to protect these countries from Russia,” he said, adding that Washington had “been treated unfairly.”

“We pay disproportionately. We had a time when we were paying 100 per cent. We were paying 100 per cent of NATO and yet a lot of the countries weren’t paying anything,” Trump said.

He also claimed that several major European allies had been reluctant to support the United States during recent military operations against Iran.

“I spoke with the UK… I spoke to Germany… spoke to France, they didn’t wanna help. Nobody wanted to help,” Trump said, although he added that “some of the very small countries wanted to help because they’re the most vulnerable.”

The President said Spain had been particularly resistant within the alliance.

“They’re hostile about it,” Trump said. “Let’s see how hostile they remain when they call up and they say, ‘Please, please, we wanna trade with you, sir.’ They make so much money with us and we’re gonna see that they make a lot less. I want no business with them.”

Rutte, however, sought to soften Trump’s criticism and argued that NATO allies had substantially increased defence spending under pressure from Washington.

“Even Spain… got to the 2 per cent. They spent, they made a huge step in last year,” the NATO chief said. “So there’s still issues we have to solve, but hey, also even Spain… got to the 2 per cent.”

Rutte praised Trump for pushing allies to invest more in defence.

“The last two years, Canada and European NATO nations spending $215 billion more… compared to 2024,” he said, adding that allied investments in the US defence industrial base were supporting “almost 200,000 jobs” in the United States.

He later said that, in total, allied commitments amounted to “more than $1.2 trillion,” telling Trump: “You made this happen… It’s your win.”

Trump responded that previous US presidents had failed to persuade allies to shoulder a greater share of NATO’s burden.

“It should have happened years ago. Obama didn’t do it and Biden didn’t do it, and frankly, Bush didn’t do it either,” he said.

Spain has frequently been among the NATO members spending below the alliance’s defence spending benchmark as a share of gross domestic product, although Madrid has pledged to increase military investment amid growing security concerns in Europe. NATO leaders have, in recent years, pressed members to raise defence spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a more uncertain global security environment.

IANS