Newsweek36%
Trump Calls Spain ‘Terrible Partner,’ Threatens to Cut Off All Trade 39%
By Matthew Robinson0% Hugh Cameron43%
7/8/2026, 2:06:10 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 28 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, False Dilemma, and Self-Serving Bias, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 25.8% saturation with 263 hits. Analysis detected 1,788 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,018 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 44.5% and a BS Rank of 39% (13,440 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 61.40% of the article peer group.
President Donald Trump has said that Spain is a "terrible partner" in NATO and threatened to cut off all U.S. trade with the country.
"Spain is a terrible partner in NATO.
They don't participate.
They don't pay.
I don't want anything to do with Spain," Trump said at the NATO summit in Turkey on Wednesday.
Addressing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trump added: "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 also reiterated his criticism of NATO over its lack of support for the U.S. during the war in Iran.
Trump's Comments 'Taken in Spain's Stride'
The office of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, in comments shared with Newsweek on Wednesday, said that the country would take these threats “in stride and with a sense of normalcy.”
“Our country maintains excellent social, cultural, and economic relations with the U.S., and it is not our intention for that to change,” the statement continued.
It noted that the U.S. currently boasts a trade surplus with Spain, that the European Union is a trading bloc in which no single member can be “singled out,” as well as the fact that economic ties “are forged by private companies, not by governments.”
“The bilateral relationship between the U.S. and Spain is beneficial to both countries, both in the areas of trade and defense,” read the statement.
Iran War Tensions
This is not the first time Trump has lashed out at Spain over what he views as its insufficient support for U.S. policy objectives.
In March, Spain closed its airspace to U.S. aircraft involved in the Iran war as part of its broader refusal to support U.S. and Israeli military operations that the government described as illegal and unjust.
After Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government barred the U.S. from using the Rota and Morón military bases in southern Spain, President Donald Trump threatened to cut trade with Madrid.
“Spain has been terrible,” Trump said in early March, criticizing the country for failing to support the war and for rejecting his push for a 5 percent defense-investment target for NATO partners.
“We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain.
We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he said.
Speaking at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library on July 1, Trump called Spain “not very good members of NATO” who were “not behaving nicely.”
“But they will learn,” the president said, noting that territories like Guam, the Philippines and Puerto Rico came under U.S. control once Spain relinquished them following the Spanish-American War
The NATO Dispute: Spending
The U.S. has been pressing allies to move toward spending 5 percent of GDP on defence and security by 2035, up from the once longstanding 2 percent benchmark.
Spain remains the only member of NATO to have not committed to this.
The country maintains that it can meet its defense obligations with only 2 percent spending—which increased from 1.4 percent to 2.1 percent between 2024 and 2025, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
As Trump spoke on Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte added that Trump “got Spain to pay 2 percent… they made a huge step in last year.”
However, Rutte said there remained “issues we have to solve” with Spain.
Trade and Tourism Between Spain and the US
According to figures from the Census Bureau, trade between the U.S. and Spain totaled around $48 billion in 2025, with the U.S. exporting roughly $26.6 billion worth of goods while importing $21.3 billion.
Top exports to the U.S. include refined petroleum and packaged pharmaceuticals, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC).
The main imports to Spain as of April were crude petroleum and petroleum gas.
In terms of tourism, American travelers accounted for around 4.6 percent of arrivals and 7.1 percent of spending in 2024, per research from CaixaBank.
Meanwhile, Spain's main benchmark stock market index, the IBEX 35, had fallen nearly 3 percent as of midday local time, with a sharp drop recorded following Trump's remarks.
Newsweek has contacted the Spanish Tourism Ministry for comment.
Who Is Pedro Sánchez?
The Spanish prime minister heads the country’s Socialist Workers’ Party, and came to power in 2018 after ousting the conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in a no-confidence vote.
Sánchez has positioned himself as one of Europe's most prominent progressive leaders, as well as one of its more anti-Trump voices.
Sánchez sharply criticized U.S. military action against Iran and opposed Spanish participation, becoming one of the most vocal critics among European leaders who publicly challenged the White House.
Other Issues at the Ankara Summit
U.S. policy appeared to dominate the two-day summit being held in the Turkish capital this week.
Shortly after arriving, the president again voiced his desire for the U.S. control over Greenland, which he called “very important for the U.S.," but "not important for Denmark.”
“Greenland doesn’t help Denmark.
Denmark doesn’t spend money to really help Greenland, but it’s an important part for the United States,” Trump said on Tuesday, during a joint conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“And it’s surrounded by China ships and Russian ships.”
Aside from Spain, Trump also criticized other NATO allies for lagging behind on the organization’s 5 percent defense-spending target, and suggested he could pull American troops out of Europe, given the continent was not matching “all the money we spend to help them with Russia.”
“We don’t have to spend any money, we could remove all of our soldiers out,” Trump said.
“Because as you’ve probably noticed, Europe’s a very different place than it was 20 years ago—much different—and they better be careful with immigration and energy.”
And on Tuesday, President Trump used the summit to announce that the interim agreement with Iran was “over,” while branding the country’s leaders “scum,” “liars,” and saying that American negotiators were “wasting their time.”
Update 7/8/26 8:15 a.m.
ET: This article has been updated with a response from Spain's Office of the Prime Minister.
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