U.S. President Donald Trump on the 8th, local time, called Spain "beyond saving" at a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit venue and ordered all trade and visits cut off.
But Spain, the country at the center of it, is not treating the trade cutoff threat as a crisis. The Spanish government called the remark "business as usual." Local media judged it as political bluster, weighing feasibility before the level of rhetoric.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said that just hours after the trade cutoff order emerged, he chatted with President Trump in the meeting room about the World Cup and golf as usual. The Spanish government also pushed back, saying, "Because trade policy authority lies with the European Union (EU), it would be difficult for the United States to single out Spain and sever trade."
According to major outlets on the 8th, President Trump, at a NATO summit held in Ankara, Türkiye, called Spain a "wasted cause" during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and ordered, "Cut off all trade with Spain. Include visits." Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury Secretary in attendance, immediately replied, "Yes, sir."
Trump added, "They make a lot of money thanks to us, but I will make sure they make much less going forward." He took issue with Spain rejecting NATO's defense spending target of 5% of gross domestic product and blocking the use of the Rota and Morón bases and overflight by U.S. forces during the Iran war. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Spain's defense expenditure was 2.1% of gross domestic product last year. Secretary-General Rutte chimed in, saying, "You made Spain pay 2%. It was a huge step over the past year." Spain's public broadcaster RTVE reported that "Trump's order did not immediately lead to a written directive or an official administrative action."
This is not the first time Trump has mentioned trade retaliation against Spain. In June 2025 at a NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, after Spain alone declined to join the 5% defense spending target, he said he would "make them pay double in a trade deal." In October of the same year, he mentioned considering a tariff, and in March he ordered Treasury Minister Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer to launch an investigation for a blanket ban on all Spanish-origin items. Reuters said that since that probe, no Spain-related trade sanctions have appeared in the Federal Register to date and that trade between the two countries has largely continued normally.
Spain's leading outlet El País assessed that the Spanish government again sought to play down Trump's remarks as "words unlikely to lead to results" rather than inflame them into a diplomatic dispute. Prime Minister Sánchez emphasized "calm and patience" regarding Trump's comments that day. Spanish radio Cadena SER reported that Sánchez had a "positive and warm conversation" with Trump.
The Spanish government has cited the EU's common commercial policy as its defense against U.S. trade retaliation threats. EU member states do not conclude individual trade agreements with the United States. All tariff and trade negotiations are conducted by the European Commission on behalf of the 27 member states. If the United States targets only Spain to block trade, it would turn not just one country but all of Europe into an adversary. The Spanish government argued that "the two countries' economic relations are formed mainly through transactions between private corporations rather than government-to-government dealings, making them hard to sever based on a presidential remark alone."
The United States and the EU last year reached a trade deal (the Turnberry agreement) under which the EU scrapped tariffs on U.S.-made manufactured goods imported into the bloc, while the United States capped tariffs on EU-made products and automobiles at a uniform 15%. The EU side's implementation procedures began taking effect on the 1st. Spanish outlet El Confidencial analyzed that "if the United States imposes measures to sever trade with Spain, it would directly clash with this agreement." Olof Gill, a deputy spokesperson for the European Commission, said that day, "We expect the United States to keep its promise as we have kept ours."
According to Reuters, the two countries' trade in goods and services combined last year totaled $74.5 billion (about 112 trillion won). The United States is Spain's largest foreign investor, employing about 200,000 people locally, and Spanish corporations also view the United States as their largest investment destination globally. But if trade is cut off entirely, not only Spain but also U.S. corporations that sell pharmaceuticals, aircraft and crude oil to Spain would take losses. Based on Census Bureau figures, the United States exported $26.57 billion (about 40 trillion won) in goods to Spain and imported $21.35 billion (about 32 trillion won) last year. The United States posted a $5.2 billion (about 7.8 trillion won) surplus. If trade with Spain is suspended, that trade surplus would also be forfeited.
U.S. political outlet Politico reported that U.S. officials are compiling which Spanish goods to include for sanctions in preparation for selective measures. The first Trump administration, at the request of California's olive industry, imposed a 30% anti-dumping tariff on Spanish black olives.
However, to move to a full embargo, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) would have to be invoked to designate Spain as an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to U.S. national security and to declare a national emergency. The United States has applied this law to adversaries such as Iran in 1979 and Iraq in 1990. Peter Shane, a New York University School of Law professor, told Reuters that day it is "hard to see" a dispute with a NATO ally over defense spending meeting that standard.