WATCH: Trump cuts off trade to ally after nation bucked U.S. on Iran war
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. will end all trade with Spain after the country refused to allow U.S. forces to use military bases to launch attacks on Iran.”
The Spanish government refused to allow the U.S. military to use its bases in connection with the strikes on Iran, saying the facilities must “operate within the framework of international law.” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the U.S. no longer wanted any involvement with Spain and was cutting off all trade with the country.
“Spain has been terrible,” Trump said. “In fact, I told Scott [Bessent] to cut off all dealings with Spain. First of all, it started when every European nation, at my request, paid 5% which they should be doing. And everybody was enthusiastic, Germany, everybody. But Spain didn’t do it and now Spain actually said that we can’t use their bases … And so I told [Bessent], Spain has absolutely nothing that we need, other than great people. They have great people, but they don’t have great leadership. And as you know, they were in the only country that in NATO would not agree to go up to 5% … So we’re gonna cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
WATCH:
The U.S. currently has a trade surplus with Spain, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2025, the U.S. exported about $26 billion worth of goods. In December 2025, the U.S. exported $1.75 billion and imported $1.8 billion from Spain, according to OEC World.
Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, condemned the attack on Iran and called for an “immediate de-escalation and full respect for international law.”
The Rota and Morón bases have been used by U.S. forces since the 195os under bilateral defense agreements, according to Fox 45 News, a local affiliate based in Baltimore, Maryland. Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said during a press conference on Monday that the U.S. and Israel violated an agreement to “comply with international legal frameworks.”
Trump has previously criticized Spain for refusing to increase defense spending to 5% of its gross domestic product (GDP), which Trump has pushed all members of the North Atlantic Trade Organization (NATO) to do.
The U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury early Saturday to target the Islamic Republic of Iran, its senior officials and the country’s nuclear program. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and 48 other Iranian leaders were killed in the attack, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.
Six U.S. service members died in the war with Iran as of Monday after Iranian troops launched strikes on a base housing American troops in Kuwait.
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