Trump threatens to halt US trade with Spain over military bases, defense spending
WASHINGTON/MADRID: US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a full US trade embargo on Spain on Tuesday after the European and NATO ally refused to let the US military use its bases for missions linked to strikes on Iran.
“Spain has been terrible,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, adding that he had told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all dealings” with Spain.
“We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he added.
The US relocated 15 aircraft, including refueling tankers, from the Rota and Moron military bases in southern Spain after the country’s Socialist leadership said it would not allow them to be used to attack Iran.
Trump again referenced Spain’s refusal to heed US calls for all NATO members to spend 5 percent of their GDP on defense, and added: “Spain has absolutely nothing that we need.”
“All business having to do with Spain, I have the right to stop it. Embargoes — do anything I want with it — and we may do that with Spain,” he said, again expressing his frustration with the Supreme Court’s ruling last month that his broadest global tariffs were illegal under a national emergencies law.
