The US president described Spain as a ‘horrible associate’ over its actions through the US-Israel battle on Iran.
Revealed On 8 Jul 2026
United States President Donald Trump has threatened to chop ties with Spain and insists he nonetheless desires Greenland, as NATO leaders met for a summit within the Turkish capital Ankara.
“I’m very upset with NATO,” he informed reporters on Wednesday as he met alliance chief Mark Rutte earlier than the primary summit session.
Really helpful Tales
listing of three objectsfinish of listing
“I’m not proud of NATO due to what they did with Greenland, and I’m not proud of NATO due to the truth that they didn’t need to assist us with the primary state sponsor of terror, that’s Iran.”
Trump singled out Spain for explicit criticism, calling it a “horrible associate in NATO”.
“Spain is a wasted trigger. We don’t need to do any commerce enterprise with Spain any extra,” he stated, asking Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “reduce it off”.
In March, Spain stated the US wouldn’t be allowed to make use of joint navy bases on its territory for operations towards Iran and closed its airspace to US planes concerned within the battle.
The workplace of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stated in an announcement it was treating Trump’s statements as “enterprise as typical” and didn’t intend to alter the “wonderful” relations it loved with Washington.
It identified that Spain had a commerce deficit with the US and that financial ties have been cast by personal corporations relatively than governments, including that as half of the customs and commerce union, particular person European Union members couldn’t be singled out.
In the meantime, the EU stated it anticipated the US to honour its commerce deal obligations with the 27-member physique.
“I remind you that we signed a joint assertion with the US final yr. We count on the US to honour its commitments below that joint assertion, as we’ve got honoured ours,” European Fee spokesperson Olof Gill stated in an announcement.
Whereas Trump continues to be smarting from Europe’s response to his battle with Israel on Iran, he nonetheless has not dropped his want for NATO member Denmark’s territory of Greenland.
“Greenland is an enormous downside for us,” he informed reporters, including: “We’d like it for cover of the world, not simply the US… It doesn’t assist Denmark, however it helps us.”
Rutte stated the US and Denmark would persist with a deal to carry talks over probably rising the US footprint on the Arctic island.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen earlier insisted that Greenland is “not for sale”.
Gill added that the EU stated “selections about the way forward for Greenland are for Greenlanders and Danes.”
Washington’s NATO allies need to use the Ankara summit to minimize Trump’s ire over Iran and present they’re making good on their pledge to ramp up defence spending.
Trump stated it was “unfair” that the US was spending “disproportionately” in NATO to assist defend Europe from Russia.
