President Donald Trump excoriated Spain for refusing to meet NATO’s requirement that member nations spend at least 5% of their gross domestic product on defense and threatened to break off all trade with the country.
“Spain is a wasted cause,” Trump said on Wednesday during a press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. “We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore.”
“Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits,” Trump also said. “OK, we don’t want anything to do. Watch them, watch them come running back, all they’ll come running back.”
The president blasted Spain as a “terrible partner” for rejecting the 5% GDP commitment negotiated during last year’s NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands. Spain, however, resisted the increase from 2% of each nation’s GDP during the summit last year.
“We don’t have to trade with them,” Trump said on Wednesday, the final day of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. “I don’t want to do any more trade with them, alright?
In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly expressed that he was “disappointed with NATO” for not meeting defense dues and the unwillingness of its members to help with Iran. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was among several European leaders who criticized the U.S. for launching the Iran war that began on Feb. 28.
TRUMP SIGNALS DISAPPOINTMENT WITH NATO WHILE TOUTING RELATIONSHIP WITH TURKEY
On Wednesday, Trump repeatedly claimed at NATO that the U.S. doesn’t need Europe’s help with the war. He also suggested that cutting off trade with Spain would cause it to bend.
“Let’s see how hostile they remain when they call up, and they say ‘Please, please, we want to trade with you, sir’,” Trump said.