On the NATO stage, Trump insulted Spain as a bad partner, broke off trade relations
JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized European allies for not allocating enough budget for defense. Trump today specifically launched a harsh criticism of Spain.
Spain is the only NATO member to refuse to commit to an increase in defense spending targets. The country received an exemption to limit its military spending to 2.1% of GDP, instead of the higher target of 5% that other countries plan to achieve by 2035.
Among NATO allies, Spain's position is at the bottom (along with other countries) in terms of defense spending as a percentage of the country's GDP.
"Spain is a useless case. We don't want to do business with Spain anymore," Trump said from the Ankara Summit on Wednesday, July 8, reported by CNN.
"Spain is a bad partner in NATO. They don't participate, they don't pay. I don't want to deal with anything with Spain," he continued.
This is not the first time Trump has launched a sharp criticism of Spain; the left-leaning Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, is one of the few leaders who have vocally criticized the US war against Iran.
Sánchez's earlier decision to ban the use of American military facilities in southern Spain to support the attack on Iran had sparked the White House's anger.
"Don't talk to them. They are not to be trusted, bad people," Trump criticized. "They take a lot of advantage of us, and we will make sure their advantage is much smaller. I don't want to do business with them," he continued.
Meanwhile, the office of Prime Minister Sánchez stated that his party responded to Trump's latest call to sever trade ties with "calm", and did not intend to change the excellent social and economic relations with the US. A spokesman noted that the US recorded a trade surplus with Spain, which means that technically the US gains more from the bilateral trade relationship.
In addition, as a member of the European Union, Spain cannot be treated in a special or separate manner in trade policy.