DONALD Trump said he ordered US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off all trade with Madrid after calling Spain a ‘terrible partner’ in NATO.
The US president made the announcement on Wednesday as NATO leaders met in Turkiye’s capital, Ankara, for a key summit.
Appearing alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump told reporters: “We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore.”
“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… I don’t want to do any more trade with them. All right, take it immediately.”
Trump’s outburst marks the latest escalation in a series of threats against Spain – including warnings of tariffs and possible NATO expulsion – over Madrid’s refusal to increase defence spending and allow the use of military bases on Spanish soil for the war in Iran.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez’s office played down Trump’s statement on Wednesday, saying Spain was treating the remarks as ‘business as usual.’
“Our country maintains an excellent social, cultural and economic relationship with the United States, and it is not our intention for that to change,” a government note said.
In a further response to Trump’s threat, government sources told El Pais that the US has a trade surplus with Spain, arguing Washington benefits more from the relationship than Madrid does.
The source added the EU was a trade bloc in which no individual member state could be singled out, echoing points repeatedly made by the European Commission.
“The bilateral relationship between the US and Spain benefits both countries, both in trade and in defence,” they told El Pais.
Tensions between Washington and Madrid have been rising since October 2025, when Sanchez rejected Trump’s demand that Spain increase its defence spending to 5% of GDP.
The US president responded by threatening tariffs and suggesting Spain should be removed from the NATO alliance.
Then, in March this year, Sanchez again defied Trump by denying use of the joint US-Spanish military bases at Rota and Moron for strikes on Iran.
Trump responded by threatening a total trade embargo on Spain, but has so far taken no action to follow through on any of his warnings.
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