President Donald Trump at the NATO summit on Wednesday said he wants to “cut off all trade” with Spain, the latest in a series of escalating threats against the European nation over its treaty obligations to the alliance.
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“Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate. They don’t pay,” Trump said. “I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits.”
Trump has long criticized other NATO members for not spending enough on defense. Spain is the only member country that did not commit last year to spending 5% of its gross domestic product on defense by 2035.
“Don’t even talk to them,” Trump said of Spain. “They’re hopeless, bad people. There are a couple of others, but in particular Spain.”
Spain is expected to spend about 2% of its GDP on defense in 2026. It was NATO’s seventh-largest defense spender last year in absolute terms, according to government officials.
It’s not Trump’s first time threatening Spain. He has previously threatened to impose higher tariffs on the country and suggested partners “throw them out of NATO.”
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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez downplayed Trump’s threat at the NATO summit.
He said that as trading partners, Spain and the U.S. have “very, very strong ties that have endured regardless of the ideological leanings of the governments in power.”
The U.S. exports more to Spain than it imports from the country. The U.S. sold more than $26 billion in goods to Spain last year and imported over $21 billion, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
What Does the U.S. Import From Spain?
Below are some of the top products that the U.S. imported from Spain in 2024, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
What Does the U.S. Export to Spain?
Below are some of the top products that the U.S. exported to Spain in 2024, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.
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