President Donald Trump decided the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey was the perfect venue to publicly tell an entire country he wants nothing to do with them. That country is Spain, and boy did it get personal.
As Trending Politics reported, Trump unloaded on Spain during a press availability alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, calling the country a lost cause and demanding a full trade cutoff. This came just hours after Trump and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez apparently shared a lovely group dinner together. Nothing says "thanks for the paella" quite like a next-morning diplomatic firebombing.
"Spain is a wasted cause. We don't want to do any trade business with Spain anymore," Trump said. "Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don't participate, they don't pay. I don't want to have anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits... Watch them come running back."
Including visits. The man wants to cut off tourism. You have to admire the commitment to the bit.
Trump then offered his prediction of how things would play out. "Let's see how hostile they remain when they call up and they [say], 'Please, please. We want to trade with you, sir. We want to trade with you, sir.'"
So what did Spain do to earn this very public dressing down? A few things, actually. For starters, under Sanchez and his Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, Spain has refused to commit to the higher NATO defense spending targets that the U.S. and other allies have been pushing, which include reaching 5% of GDP by 2035. Spain has insisted that around 2.1% is perfectly fine, thank you very much, because they have social welfare programs to fund. Other NATO members have largely gotten on board with the higher targets, endorsed by Rutte and senior NATO leaders, making Spain the odd country out.
But it gets spicier. Back in March, Spain closed its airspace to U.S. military aircraft involved in operations against Iran and refused to let the U.S. use jointly operated bases at Rota and Moron for strikes tied to that conflict. Spanish officials called the conflict unjustifiable and said they wanted no part of it. That forced the U.S. to relocate aircraft and prompted earlier trade threats from Trump.
So Spain essentially told the U.S. it would not pay more for collective defense and also would not let America use their shared military bases for actual military operations. From Trump's perspective, that is roughly the equivalent of a gym buddy who never spots you, never pays dues, and then locks you out of the weight room.
Whether Spain eventually picks up the phone with the "please, please" routine Trump is envisioning remains to be seen. But Sanchez now gets to fly home from Turkey knowing his country just got roasted in front of every NATO leader on the planet. That is one souvenier nobody asked for.
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