President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that Spain “came back all the way” and agreed to boost NATO payments after he ordered a U.S. trade embargo with the European country over its reluctance to contribute more to the organization.
The subject of Spain’s contributions and commitments to NATO — or lack thereof — has been a strong point of contention between President Trump and the administration of socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. The Spanish government has repeatedly refused to fulfill NATO’s five percent GDP in defense spending goal, affirming that its 2.1 percent spending goal is allegedly “enough” to comply with all of its commitments to the bloc.
On Wednesday, during the NATO Summit hosted by Turkey in the city of Ankara, President Trump instructed Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent to immediate halt of all U.S trade with Spain in response to it’s continued refusal to step up to NATO’s spending goals.
President Trump after emphatically describing Spain’s socialist government as a “lost cause” and stating the United States does not have to trade with Spain, added that he believed Spain would “come running back.”
President Trump’s assertion appears to have materialized mere hours later. Speaking to a Reuters reporter aboard Air Force One, Trump said that Spain “came back all the way today.”
“Spain, I will say, I did have issues with Spain, and I still do, but Spain came back all the way today. Spain was very generous today. You know, I told them I’m going to stop trading,” President Trump said.
Asked what did Spain do, President Trump responded, “They honored a request for lots of payment — and if they didn’t, we wouldn’t even talk to them.”
“They were very bad, they behave very badly, in my opinion,” Trump added.
President Trump did not specify what do the payments entail. The Spanish government has not publicly disclosed specifics on what was honored at press time.
Hours before President Trump made the announcement, Prime Minister Sánchez affirmed to reporters at the NATO Summit that he held an “informal” conversation with Trump after he ordered the trade halt with Spain. Sánchez and Trump reportedly spoke without tensions and talked about soccer and golf.
“We discussed soccer and the World Cup in the United States. It was an informal, casual conversation, completely free of any tension. On the contrary, it was characterized by cordiality and friendliness,” Sánchez said. “It took place after the press conference given by the President of the United States.”
According to the socialist Prime Minister, the Spanish government learned about the trade halt order through reporters. He asserted that the Spanish government view the statements with “calm and patience, and a sense of normalcy too.”
“Because, ultimately, when you step back a bit from these kinds of statements, you see that the relationship between the United States and Spain — socially, culturally, economically, and politically — is very positive,” he said.
Prior to President Trump’s remarks, a Spanish government spokesperson reportedly told international outlets that the country was responding to the trade halt instructions “calmly and as a matter of course” — highlighting the trade relationship between both nations, and noting that the United States runs a trade surplus with Spain.
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