Politico reported on Friday that President Donald Trump is bragging that he won a battle with Spain over his military expenditure demands, but Spanish officials are very confused about how he got that idea in his head.
Trump was at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey this week, where he criticized Spain for refusing to agree to a 5 percent of GDP investment target for each member state over the next 10 years.
“Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore, by the way,” Trump said in his public meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate. They don’t pay,” the president continued. “I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits."
"Watch them come running back. Oh they’ll come running back,” Trump added.
Trump also accused Madrid of treating Rutte “terribly,” telling the NATO chief he “shouldn’t carry” Spain.
“I mean, you sorta automatically carry them because you’re protecting an area,” the president continued in his rant. “So they probably figured ‘they have to protect us, right?’”
On Thursday, a U.S. official confirmed to Politico that the Treasury and Commerce Departments were crafting “a menu of Spanish products that may be embargoed in the coming days."
In Madrid, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s office told Reuters it just another Tuesday with Trump, describing it as "business as usual." They said that there was no intention of changing the "excellent" trade relations with the U.S.
Trump has been annoyed with Spain after the country refused to allow the U.S. to use the joint base as part of his war against Iran.
Upon his flight home, Trump completely reversed course. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, he said, "I did have issues with Spain, and I still do, but Spain came back all the way today. Spain was very generous today, you know, I told them I was going to stop trading. They honored a request for lots of payment."
According to Politico, "Trump's statement generated considerable confusion in Madrid."
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares told the national RTVE broadcast he didn't know what Trump was talking about.
When asked about the shift, a translation of Albares' remarks read: "Only he can answer that." He went on to add, "What matters is what Spain does as a NATO ally: We are a solid, reliable ally, absolutely indispensable for Euro-Atlantic security ... in all theaters," such as the Arctic, the Baltic and "leading the charge in Iraq."
"I wish everyone could say the same with their head held high," the minister said, according to the translation. He said that Spain has reached a level of spending "that other allies have not yet achieved."
"Spain is already at 2 percent of spending, and we have provided all our capabilities," he added.
On Friday, Spanish officials said that they're simply going to assume Trump was talking about the country reaching the 2 percent target. It has reached triple what the spending was in 2018. Spain is also the country with the "largest number of troops deployed on the alliance's eastern flank," clarified Politico. They have been one of the few NATO members leading missions, including one in Slovakia.
