The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has charged again against Spain, saying that he will “completely” stop bilateral trade and that it is “a lost cause” as well as “a terrible partner in NATO” for refusing to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP.
“Spain is a lost cause. By the way, we no longer want to do any commercial business with Spain. I want them to cut it off. Spain is a terrible ally in NATO. They don’t participate. They don’t pay. I don’t want to know anything about Spain. Cut all trade with Spain, please, including visits,” Trump said during a joint press conference with the Secretary General of the Alliance, Mark Rutte.
Trump has expressed his anger with several allies for what in his opinion is little commitment to NATO, but he has especially singled out Spain because “they are hostile” and say “openly” that they are not going to increase their defense investment beyond 2%.
Rutte responds to Trump that Spain has taken “a big step”
Mark Rutte has come out in defense of Spain after Trump’s words. Thus, the head of the Atlantic Alliance has highlighted that Spain “has taken a big step” since the previous summit in The Hague until now, since it finally exceeded the limit of 2% in strictly military investment.
“You have mentioned Spain, you have even managed to get Spain to pay 2%. They have made a big step last year, so there are still problems to be resolved, but hey, even with Spain, I would highlight that they have reached 2%.”
The Government says it is “calm” in the face of Trump’s new threat
The Spanish Government assures that it receives with “calm and normality” the new threats against Spain from the president of the United States, who within the framework of the NATO summit in Ankara said that the country “is a lost cause” and asked to cut all commercial relations.
After these statements, Executive sources stressed that Spain maintains a magnificent social, cultural and economic relationship with the United States. Furthermore, they stressed that the European Union is a trading union in which no member state can be singled out.
More criticism against European allies
Donald Trump has taken advantage of his arrival at the NATO summit in Ankara to redouble his criticism of European allies. The president was “very disappointed” with the Alliance for not supporting the US military offensive against Iran and has once again defended that Greenland should be under Washington’s control.
As soon as he landed in the Turkish capital, Trump assured that NATO countries “did not treat the United States well” during the operation against Iran. As he explained, he expected greater support from allies that Washington has protected for decades. “You would think that they would be very willing to do something to help us. And they really weren’t,” he said.
The president has also hinted that this lack of support could have consequences. Asked about a possible withdrawal of more US troops from Europe, he did not rule it out and simply responded: “We’ll see.”
