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.
Make Your Inbox Smarter
Sign up for these free email newsletters from U.S. News:
Pick Newsletters
“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.”
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.
- Pharmaceutical products: $1.3 billion
- Pure olive oil: $1.1 billion
- Refined petroleum: $881 million
- Electrical transformers: $866 million
- Perfumes: $731 million
- Vaccines, blood and other medical items: $663 million
- Unglazed ceramics: $540 million
- Wine: $386 million
- Gas turbines: $358 million
- Rubber tires: $269 million
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.
- Crude petroleum: $6.19 billion
- Pharmaceutical products: $4.24 billion
- Petroleum gas: $1.96 billion
- Vaccines, blood and other medical items: $1.84 billion
- Gas turbines: $1.33 billion
- Planes, helicopters and spacecrafts: $845 million
- Refined petroleum: $807 million
- Soybeans: $680 million
- Aircraft parts: $660 million
- Nuts: $537 million
Source link
