Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez left the NATO summit this week with a smaller defense bill than the rest of the alliance, but Donald Trump warned that EU left leaders would be paid in other ways.
After Sanchez resisted resistance to new spending targets, the US president accused Spain of asking for “ride freely” and threatened to “pay double the amount” of tariffs on the US as part of a trade deal.
On Thursday, the Spanish Prime Minister described Trump’s threat as “doublely unfair,” pointing to the fact that the bloc’s trade deal is being negotiated by the European Commission.
“Spain is an open country, a friend of its friends, and we consider the United States to be friends,” Sanchez joined other EU leaders in Brussels for the summit. “These are two different areas of debate: one is the Atlantic Union, the other is EU trade policy.”
Even if the US cannot choose Spain across the EU, Trump’s words show that he has Madrid in his vision and can resort to a variety of tools to try to punish it.
It begs the question whether Sanchez, famous for his wi-fi political survivor at home, miscalculated at the international stage and pushed his luck too far.
“It was selfish and reckless,” said the NATO diplomat in Europe. “We all have difficulties with spending, but he tried to do all that about him.”
Other allies complained that Spain may have quietly embraced the ambiguity and long timeline of the summit declaration.
Before Trump’s comments, the Socialist Prime Minister thanked his allies for respecting “Spanish sovereignty” by insisting an explicit opt-out from the 5% target. He said that if he accepts it, it was a “giant mistake” that would cost Spain 300 million euros over the next decade.
The conflict in The Hague comes when Sanchez was weakened at home by a vortex of corruption scandals that included his wife and brothers, and two former right-handed men accused of being kicked back on a public contract. Everything denies fraud.
A sense of crisis, including his critics’ appeal for the general election, led to Sanchez’s suggestion that he would like to use the summit to change the subject.
The process began last week when I told NATO Executive Director Mark Latte in a public letter that I refused to accept “irrational” spending targets. He then announced in an improvised television speech on Sunday that Latte had accepted his position.
One conservative official said Sanchez wanted a “Zelensky moment” with Trump, referring to the dust in the Ukrainian president’s oval office.
“We are accused of the 1990s of the Institute for Foreign Policy,” said Michael Walsh, a senior fellow at the Institute for Foreign Policy. “The conflict with Trump is about to attract the attention of many people. There are many voters in Spain who don’t sympathize with Trump or his foreign policy.
“I think this was a deliberate move and Sanchez might have known it was going to explode. He decided it was worth taking the risk because it was a distraction from things at home.”
One Spanish official said Sanchez’s team was “a bit out” at Trump’s threat. When the prime minister sent his letter to Latte last week, Madrid had already carried out potential figures for US retaliation, and concluded that the tariff threat was not critical.
US tariffs on goods that Spain produces in substantial quantities, such as iron, aluminum and automobiles, will also clash with 26 other EU member states, including those that they were willing to sign up for Trump’s 5% NATO targets.
Instead, the US was able to target products, one of Spain’s few producers, such as Iberian ham and black olives, but their economic weight is limited.
Spanish officials said at a private meeting of NATO leaders that Trump had not mentioned Spain by name. He only commented when asked at subsequent press conferences. Refusing to commit to 5% by 2035 was “bad” and deserved a penalty in the trade contract.
“I know they’re doing very well. The economy is doing very well. And there’s something bad going on in that economy that could be blown away from the water right away,” Trump said.
By breaking the rank, Sanchez turned his attention to differences in NATO capabilities goals (the true military gaps assessed by Alliance experts), initially being called for by Trump and became the official target by Rutte.
“We all knew that our only purpose was to stock up after getting through the recent times. He couldn’t help himself,” said the second European NATO diplomat.
German Prime Minister Friedrich Merz said: “We will do an updated review by 2029 to see if Spain can maintain its promise with a decline in financial spending.”
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Trump could move from Spain to other issues. In January, he didn’t seem to know where it was when he called it “Brick Country.” But there was another interpretation of his words. They were warnings and warnings that he considered Spain as a bed fellow of a particular enemy.
Sanchez isn’t just in conflict with the Trump administration over defense. He condemned Israeli attacks on Gaza, attacked Silicon Valley’s “Technocaste” and tested his patience in search of President Xi Jinping in China. He is also an advocate for immigration.
As the EU’s most senior left leader, he has made himself a useful symbol of what the Maga movement dislikes.
“I think Trump will retaliate,” Walsh said. “He intends to put great pressure on the Spanish government to adapt to 5%. There is already a good chance that this government will collapse due to the corruption scandal. Trump hopes that it can be achieved.”
Additional reporting by Paola Tamma of Brussels, Anne Sylvain Chasanny of the Hague, Carmen Muera of Madrid
