President Donald Trump erupted at one of America’s closest allies after it defied his demands to ramp up military spending.
NATO partners Spain and the U.S. have been at odds over defense spending and the war in Iran.
Trump has called on NATO members to increase their defense spending to 5 percent of their annual GDP by 2035, but Spain is the sole NATO member yet to sign up to that target—a decision Trump called “terrible.”
Spain increased defense spending from 1.4 percent of GDP in 2021 to 2.1 percent in 2025, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, but it still trails most of its European allies.
Madrid also declined to allow the U.S. use of its airspace and military bases for operations linked to the conflict with Iran, putting it increasingly at odds with Washington.
Trump stepped up the feud this week during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit in Turkey.
“Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore,” Trump declared.
“Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate, they don’t pay. I don’t want to have anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits… Watch them come running back,” he said, appearing to address Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“We don’t have to trade with them. I don’t want to do any more trade with them, alright? Immediately. Don’t talk to them, they’re hopelessly bad people.”
Trump added, “Let’s see how hostile they remain when they call up and they, ‘Please, please. We want to trade with you, sir. We want to trade with you, sir.’ They make so much money with us and we’re going to see that they make a lot less. I want no business with them.”
Rutte responded by reminding Trump that Spain had increased its defense spending, while signaling that more work lies ahead. “You got Spain to pay 2 percent. They spent, they made a huge step in last year,” Rutte told the president, before adding that there were still “issues we have to solve” with Spain.
It is not the first time Trump has threatened to cut off trade with Spain.
A previous threat from Trump in March failed to produce any major fallout, with commercial ties between the U.S. and Spain carrying on uninterrupted.
It is also unclear how Trump plans to unilaterally cut off trade with Spain, and even if he is able to follow through on his remarks, it would likely have little impact on Spain’s economy.
Spain does not rely heavily on the United States for trade. In 2025, about 4.9 percent of Spain’s exports went to the U.S., worth roughly €18 billion ($20.5 billion).
The U.S., meanwhile, exported about €23 billion ($26.2 billion) worth of goods to Spain, meaning the U.S. operates a large trade surplus with Spain.
And while Spain is the world’s second-most popular tourist destination after France, welcoming a record 96.8 million international visitors in 2025, only a small portion of those tourists come from the U.S.,
In 2024, 4.2 million American tourists visited Spain.
Despite Trump’s remarks, the Spanish government sought to downplay the dispute, with a spokesperson for socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez saying relations with the U.S. remain strong across economic, cultural, and social ties, Reuters reported.
Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia, however, fired back at Trump.
“We are a sovereign, democratic country that defends multilateralism and peace,” she said on X. “What’s terrible is confusing diplomacy with bullying.”
