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President Donald Trump has threatened to halt all trade with Spain after the country barred the U.S. military from using its bases for operations in Iran. Speaking at the White House, Trump labeled Spain’s actions "terrible" and stated that the administration intended to "cut off all trade." It remains unclear how such a threat would be implemented given Spain’s membership in the European Union.
"We're going to cut off all trade". "We don't want anything to do with Spain," he told reporters.
Trump's comments add to existing tensions between the two countries, including over the Spanish government's resistance to Trump's demand for NATO allies to raise their defence spending.
"I could tomorrow - or today, even better - stop everything having to do with Spain, all business having to do with Spain," Trump said on Tuesday.
Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent both claimed that the US can legally place an embargo on products imported from Spain. But US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer was non-committal when asked by the president for his view on the plan.
"We're going to talk about it with you," Greer said.
"You have the strong power that the Supreme Court clarified - we know you can use it. And if you need to use it to assure national and economic security, we'll do it."
On Tuesday, Trump also expressed frustration with the Spanish government for refusing to increase its defence spending to 5% of its gross domestic product, in contrast to many other European countries that have acquiesced.
Trump has previously suggested that Spain should face economic punishments.
The European Union allows goods to move freely between the 27 countries in the economic bloc, which would complicate any bid to impose trade restrictions on a single member state.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, currently one of Europe's few left-leaning leaders, on Sunday called the US and Israel's attacks on Iran an "unjustified, dangerous military intervention" in violation of international law.
Officials in Madrid said they would bar the US from using military bases in southern Spain as part of the operation, arguing that doing so would violate the United Nations charter.
