Video: Trump threatens to cut all US trade with Spain over base access denial
US President Donald Trump
Abdullateef Fowewe
United States President, Donald Trump has criticised Spain’s leadership and threatened to sever all US trade ties with the country, citing its failure to meet NATO defense spending targets and refusal to grant access to key military bases.
In his remarks, Trump singled out Spain for not contributing the requested 5% of GDP to NATO, as he claimed every other European nation did at his urging.
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“Spain didn’t do it,” Trump said. “And now Spain actually said that we can’t use their bases. And that’s all right. We could use their base if we want. We could just fly in and use it. Nobody’s going to tell us not to use it, but we don’t have to.”..
The comments reference Spain’s denial of access to joint US-Spanish bases like Rota and Morón for operations linked to US-Israel strikes on Iran, a decision framed by Madrid as an assertion of sovereignty.
Trump instructed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to enforce the trade cutoff, adding, “Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people, but they don’t have great leadership.”.
Trump also highlighted Spain’s NATO shortfall: “They were the only country that NATO would not agree to go up to 5%. I don’t think they want it agreed to go up to anything. They wanted to keep it at 2% and they don’t have to be able pay the 2%.”
