DONALD Trump has doubled down on his unprecedented threat to cut off all trade with Spain as a row over the ongoing war in Iran continues to sour diplomatic relations.
The US president’s latest rant comes just a week on from an Oval Office meeting alongside German chancellor Friedrich Merz where Trump lashed out at Spain over NATO spending and threatened to impose a trade embargo over Madrid’s refusal to allow Washington to use two joint bases in Andalucia for operations in the Middle East.
Standing on the White House lawn as he prepared to leave by helicopter, Trump was asked by a journalist whether Spain was helping the US achieve its military aims.
He replied: “No they’re not. I think they’re not cooperating at all. Spain? I think they’ve been very bad, very bad, not good at all. We may cut off trade with Spain.
“I don’t know what they’re doing – they’ve been very bad with NATO, they get protected, they don’t want to pay their fair share and they’ve been that way for many years, actually.
“Let me give the good news, let me give you the good news – the people of Spain are fantastic. The leadership? Not so good.”
Last Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested that Spain had agreed to cooperate with the US over ongoing strikes in the Middle East.
But that claim was ‘categorically’ denied by the foreign minister in a radio interview.
“The Spanish government’s position on the war in the Middle East, the bombings in Iran, and the use of our bases has not changed one iota,” Jose Manuel Albares told Cadena SER.
He added: “There is a bilateral agreement, and outside the framework of that bilateral agreement there will be no use of Spanish sovereign bases.
“Any operation must take place within the framework of the United Nations.”
Spain decided to exercise a veto over the use of Rota and Morton in Cadiz and Sevilla respectively amid fears that US-Israeli strikes on Iran would breach international law.
“The position of the government of Spain in the face of this situation is clear and consistent, the same one we have maintained in Ukraine and Gaza,” prime minister Pedro Sanchez explained in a ten-minute televised address last week.
“No to the collapse of an international law that protects us all, especially civilians.
“No to assuming that the world can only solve its problems through bombs. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past. No to war.”
Sanchez was forced into delivering the strong rebuttal from the prime minister’s residence at La Moncloa after relations between Spain and the United States plummeted to an all-time low the evening prior.
The US president praised Germany and NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte at a pool spray in the White House before slamming Spain as a ‘terrible’ ally.
“And now Spain actually said that we can’t use their bases, and that’s alright, we don’t want to, we can use their base if we want, we can just fly in and use it,” Trump said.
“So we’re gonna cut off all trade with Spain, we don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
According to the US Census Bureau, the US recorded a $4.8 billion trade surplus with Spain in 2025, exporting roughly $26.1 billion in goods while importing about $21.3 billion in return.
While the total value of Spain’s exports to the US is significant, it represents only 4.6% of the country’s overall outgoing economy.
Most of those exports fall into two main categories: agri-food products, including olive oil, wine and cured meats, and industrial goods such as machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
The impact of a trade embargo would not be felt evenly across Spain, with Catalunya, Valencia and Andalucia seeing the largest losses.
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