President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered an immediate stop to all U.S. trade with Spain, giving the instruction out loud to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a press conference at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. Seated beside NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump called Spain a “wasted cause” and said the United States no longer wanted to do business with the country, including official visits.
The order followed the summit’s endorsement of a new alliance benchmark asking members to spend 5% of their gross domestic product on defense and related costs. Spain was the only NATO member to publicly reject the full target, instead negotiating flexibility in how it meets the alliance’s capability goals. Trump has singled out Madrid for months over that stance, arguing the country benefits from NATO protection while spending less than its share.
At the podium, Trump turned to Bessent and told him he did not want any trade with Spain. Bessent answered, “Yes, sir.” Trump then said to take care of it immediately and not to talk to Spanish officials, calling them “hopeless” and predicting they would come back asking to trade again. He also said Spain had treated Rutte poorly and that the secretary-general “shouldn’t carry” the country inside the alliance.
Rutte pushed back gently. He told Trump that Spain had raised its defense spending to 2% of GDP and had made a large step over the past year, though he acknowledged there were still issues to resolve. Figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute show Spain spent 2.1% of GDP on defense in 2025, up from 1.4% in 2021, still trailing many European members.
The office of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez played down the remarks, saying it viewed them as business as usual and had no plan to change what it called an excellent relationship with Washington. Sánchez, who leads a minority government, has repeatedly clashed with Trump, including over the U.S. war in Iran. Spain has refused to let the United States use the Rota and Morón military bases in the south for operations tied to that conflict, and Sánchez earlier called the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran a serious mistake.
Any actual trade cutoff faces a basic obstacle: Spain does not set its own trade policy. As a member of the European Union, Spain negotiates trade as part of a 27-nation customs union handled by the European Commission in Brussels. Individual member states cannot be singled out without affecting the entire single market, and such a move could trigger a coordinated response from the bloc. European Commission deputy spokesperson Olof Gill said the EU had been clear and consistent on the issue. It was also the second time Trump has instructed Bessent to halt commerce with Spain; after the first order in March, trade continued normally.
The numbers show a modest but real relationship. Trade between the two countries totaled roughly $48 billion in 2025, with the United States exporting about $26.6 billion in goods and importing about $21.3 billion, according to Census Bureau data, leaving Washington with a surplus. Spain is the world’s largest olive oil exporter and also ships auto parts, steel, chemicals, refined petroleum, and packaged pharmaceuticals to American buyers. Only about 4.9% of Spain’s goods exports go to the United States, a smaller share than for Italy or Germany, which analysts say leaves Madrid less exposed than other European economies.
Markets moved on the comments, though a separate Trump remark added pressure. Spain’s benchmark IBEX 35 index fell nearly 3% by midday in Madrid, and the yield on Spain’s 10-year government bond rose about 10 basis points to 3.5682% as prices dropped. The broader pan-European Stoxx 600 slid 1.9%, and oil prices spiked after Trump separately said he now considers the Iran ceasefire over.
Trump used the summit to press other allies as well, repeating his push for U.S. control of Greenland, which drew a firm response from Denmark, and suggesting he could pull American troops out of Europe if members did not spend more. The White House did not provide details on whether the administration is drafting formal trade restrictions against Spain or whether Trump was voicing frustration. For now, it remained unclear how an order to stop trading with a single EU member would be carried out in practice.
JBizNews Desk| Washington D.C © JBizNews.com All Rights Reserved. Reproduction or distribution without written permission is prohibited.
