Trump Threatens To Halt All Trade With Spain

In an extraordinary press meeting at the White House yesterday, US President Donald Trump lambasted Spain over its lack of support for the US-Israeli attacks on Iran after Madrid declined to allow American aircraft to use its military bases for the strikes.

‘Spain has been terrible,’ Trump told reporters during a White House meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

‘So we’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,’ Trump said, adding that he had instructed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to ‘cut off all dealings with Spain’.

‘I could tomorrow stop — or today, even better — stop everything having to do with Spain, all business.’

And now,” he continued, “Spain actually said we can’t use their bases. And that’s alright we can use their base if we want. We can just fly in and use it. Nobody’s going to tell us not to use it. But we don’t have to. But they were unfriendly, so I told them we didn’t want to. Spain has absolutely nothing that we need, other than great people. They have great people.”

‘I have the right to … do anything I want with it,’ he added.

The Spanish government replied that trade policy is handled at the European Union level, not by Spain. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will address the nation this morning.

The government stressed that Spain is a reliable partner and key member of NATO. Any change to trade relations with Washington, it said, would have to respect international law and existing EU–U.S. agreements.

‘If the US administration wishes to review this relationship, it must do so while respecting the autonomy of private companies, international law and bilateral agreements between the European Union and the US,’ the government said.

‘Our country has the necessary resources to contain possible impacts, help sectors that may be affected, and diversify supply chains.’

Sánchez has repeatedly called for dialogue to end the conflict with Iran, arguing that, ‘One can oppose a hateful regime and at the same time oppose an unjustified and dangerous military intervention.’

In 2025, the US exported roughly $26bn worth of goods to Spain and imports from the country amounted to about $21bn, according to data from the US Census Bureau.

Spain’s top exports to the US include pharmaceutical products and olive oil which could be hit in a trade war.