Trump Orders Scott Bessent to ‘Cut Off All Trade’ With ‘Hostile’ NATO Member
President Donald Trump announced that the United States plans to cease all trade with Spain, criticizing SpainS involvement in NATO for not contributing fairly and for hosting U.S. military bases that he claims spain obstructed during conflicts with Iran.Trump described Spain as a “wasted cause” and urged immediate termination of trade relations, including visits, asserting that Spain treats NATO’s Secretary General poorly and is uncooperative on defense issues. he predicted Spain would regret this move and emphasized that Spain benefits financially from U.S. cooperation. Despite Trump’s stance, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte acknowledged Spain’s recent progress in increasing defense spending, which rose from 1.4% to 2.1% of GDP between 2021 and 2025. The overall sentiment reflects tensions over defense contributions and trade, with some officials viewing these disputes as part of broader NATO-related challenges.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the United States will halt all trade with Spain.
During the Iran conflict, Spain would not allow the U.S. to launch missions against Iran from its bases in Morón and Rota. Spain has also been a target of Trump’s ire for lagging behind other NATO nations in terms of the money it spends on defense.
“Spain is a wasted cause,” Trump said in a video posted to X.
“We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore, by the way. I’d like you to cut it out,” Trump said, speaking to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate, they don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
.@POTUS: “Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore by the way… Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate, they don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain.” pic.twitter.com/3prqux6p54
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 8, 2026
“Cut off all trade with Spain, including visits,” Trump said. “We don’t want anything to do… Watch them come running back. They’ll come running back.”
Gesturing toward NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump said Spain treated him “terribly.”
“Spain doesn’t agree to anything and you shouldn’t carry them,” Trump said, noting Rutte and NATO may feel they have to protect Spain. “But we don’t have to. We don’t have to trade with them. I don’t want to do any trade with them. No more trade with them. Alright? Immediately. Don’t even talk to them.”
“They’re hopeless. Bad people,” Trump said, adding that Spain was “hostile” in their attitude towards paying the nation’s fair for the defense of Europe.
“Let’s see how hostile they remain when they call up and they say, ‘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,” Trump said.
According to Reuters, as Trump spoke of cutting off trade with Spain, Bessent at one point replied, “Yes, sir.”
During the news conference in Ankara, Rutte noted that Trump has pushed Spain along in the past, according to CNBC.
“You got Spain to pay 2 percent. They spent, they made a huge step in last year,” he said, agreeing there were still “issues we have to solve” concerning Spain.
Spain went from spending 1.4 percent of its GDP on defense in 2021 to spending 2.1 percent in 2025.
U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker has called the back-and-forth with Europe over defense spending “growing pains.”
“I see these as just the challenges that we’ve worked through before,” he said.
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