Trump says he doesn't want anything to do with Spain: 'Cut off all trade'

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Wed Jul 8, 2026, 06:31 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: CNBC

Trump says he doesn’t want anything to do with Spain: ‘Cut off all trade’

PUBLISHED WED, JUL 8 2026 4:16 AM EDT UPDATED 24 MIN AGO
Elsa Ohlen

KEY POINTS
* President Trump slammed Spain for not contributing enough to NATO or spending enough on defense.
* It marks the latest development in Trump’s row with Spain over its defense spending.
* “Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate. They don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain,” Trump said at a press conference in Ankara, Turkey.

President Donald Trump has slammed Spain for not contributing enough to NATO, as he attended the defense alliance summit in Turkey.

“Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate. They don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits,” he said at a press conference in Ankara with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

“Don’t even talk to them. They’re hopeless, bad people,” the president said. “There are a couple of others, but in particular Spain,” he added.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/08/trump-spain-nato-trade-summit.html

[-misanthroptimist]

1. Very Presidential

What a friggin' embarrassment this [Redacted] guy is.

[Lonestarblue]

2. What a petulant child he is.

[LymphocyteLover]

19. Another day, another massive embarrassment to the USA, under this godforsaken piece of shit

[sdfernando]

3. I live in Spain now and I can tell you

we will do just fine without US trade.

[3Hotdogs]

15. Yeah? Well see how happy yiz are when there ain't no more McDonalds or Starbucks.

[MyOwnPeace]

28. I could see

McDonald’s cutting of Spain - after all, the ‘Orange’ is their #1 customer!
And why would they dare offend ‘Dear Leader?’
But Starbucks?
They don’t make Diet Coke……

[sdfernando]

43. Burgers are a big deal here and so is coffee

burgers are way above "McDonald's" level, fries are so.much better too..m.and don't get me started on the coffee comparison to Starbucks!

[3Hotdogs]

50. The coffee - - - years ago my step daughter was in Spain for junior season abroad. Joyce joined her for a week.

When Kiddo was in class, Joyce would sight-see.

So one morning, she stops in a cafe to get a cup of coffee. The waiter hands her the menu which purveyed several kinds of coffee.

"Uno cafe Americano."

Waiter calls across the room: "Uno peepee del gato."

[sdfernando]

52. LOL!!

It's serious stuff here...and I am in a quest to find the best cortado in Valencia! ☕☕☕☕☕☕☕

[OldBaldy1701E]

23. I am looking forward to the day when the rest of the world decides the same thing.

We tend to think we are the 'be-all' and 'end-all' of the planet.

It is past time that the rest of the planet reminds us that we are part of a bigger picture, and that we are not as awesome as we think we are.

Not even close, actually.

[vanlassie]

51. Well, since we cut USAID, maybe.

[eringer]

4. Spain Hosted the 2022 NATO Madrid Summit

It was quite remarkable and Spain rolled out the red carpet for our last real President, Joe Biden, who attended the conference.

[Hugin]

5. "There are a couple of others,..."

Basically, all of the NATO countries who don’t speak English… Um, I mean, ‘Murican.



Pathetic.

[liberalgunwilltravel]

6. Ojo Lardass

¡Usted puede besarme el culo!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. Oh, I know what that means! NT

[GiqueCee]

34. Trump is...

... more accustomed to people puckering up for his patootie! Unless, of course, they're even nastier dictators than he fancies himself to be, then he straps on his kneepads and smears Chapstick on his smackers for an extended makeout session.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. In 2025, Spain spent 2.1% of GDP on defence, more than France, Belgium, Italy, Turkey or Canada

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_highest_military_expenditures

At the 2023 Vilnius Summit, NATO Leaders agreed a renewed Defence Investment Pledge, making an enduring commitment to investing at least 2% of GDP annually in defence and at least 20% of their defence budgets on major equipment, including defence-related research and development. They also affirmed that in many cases, expenditure beyond 2% of GDP will be needed in order to remedy existing shortfalls and meet the requirements across all domains arising from a more contested security order – paving the way for the 2025 commitment to investing 5% of GDP by 2035.

https://www.nato.int/en/what-we-do/introduction-to-nato/defence-expenditures-and-natos-5-commitment

[MadameButterfly]

13. Trump's insults of course never have anything to do with reality

He's just upset that someone didn't roll over to make his idea of a deal, or they didn't feed his ego appropriately with praise and gifts.

[Trueblue Texan]

17. Either that or...

...more shit is about to hit the fan about the Epstein files. I'd bet on the latter. Always.

[Delphinus]

22. Agreed

My first question (thought) was what did Spain do to hurt this man baby's feelings.

[ashredux]

9. 😬 WTF.... he's delusional.... He thinks he's king of the world.... He's like a petulant child with a loaded gun

[ananda]

37. More like a gun loaded with beebees.

Europe and other freee world nations
are not afraid of Trump.

[Lovie777]

10. shithole is pulling us down in the failing economic hole..................

cost of living is still on the rise. Healthcare is shot, now some companies/corporations regret firing and or laying off their employees.

[2naSalit]

11. Off with their heads!

[wolfie001]

12. fat orange imbecile

[Biophilic]

14. As I recall they were the first to refuse to let trump use their air fields to attack Iran.

Such bad people. They weren’t intimidated by trump.

[3Hotdogs]

16. Leader of the Coalition of the Unwilling.

[twodogsbarking]

18. She said you had a little weenie too yam face.

[Prairie Gates]

20. Spain doesn't care

Trump is finding out what it means to have exhausted one's leverage.

Other countries are doing the right thing and reducing dependence on the US to the least they can manage (the Canada model). This will, of course, hurt US business and workers above all, but Trump likes to bluster on the stage.

[no_hypocrisy]

21. Because he can't impose tariffs.

[sop]

24. Trump's 90-minute 'beautiful phone call' with Putin just before the NATO meeting might have something to do

with all his bellicose insanity.

[WSHazel]

31. I wouldn't be surprised if there are back channel talks

Between the EU and Russia. The EU should offer Russia a deal to end war. Conditional membership to the EU based on various free market and political reforms over the next 10 years. Ukraine gets immediate membership to EU.

The big carrot for Russia would be ending NATO. The EU + Canada would reconstitute as a new military alliance. Add Ukraine, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea.

Russia is in no condition to fight anyone, ever again. The economy is in shambles, the demographics are disastrous, and the military is spent. The Europeans would annihilate the Russian military if it came to that, and the Europeans have nukes. Putin’s own position in Russia is in jeopardy with how badly the war is going, but a conditional membership to the EU would probably protect him. He might take it.

[duckworth969]

40. Reparations and Criminal Tribunals could be a major sticking point

But I like the way you think 👍🏻

[WSHazel]

42. End the war first

Europeans can circle back to those later.

Putin needs an off ramp that does not look like a humiliating defeat. Trump’s odiousness is that off ramp.

[mdbl]

25. Of course he doesn't care what anyone else wants

Pres Dump always makes me wanna

Must be a symptom of TDS

[dlk]

26. Diplomacy by snit

Thank you GOP.

[Botany]

27. Good God in Butter he is stark raving mad. Now was this after he threatened a war with Denmark and ...

…NATO over Greenland and then blew up the cease fire with Iran in the war he started to distract from Epstein?

“The United States and Spain traded roughly $47 billion in goods in 2025, with the U.S. running a trade surplus. The U.S. exported approximately $26 billion to Spain, while importing about $21 billion. The overall trade in goods and services between the two nations is valued at about $74.5 billion.”

He is nucking futz.

[KS Toronado]

29. A+ for projection

“Don’t even talk to them. They’re hopeless, bad people,” the president said.

[Joinfortmill]

30. This is getting worse and worse. We're in deep shit here, people.

[Doodley]

32. Attacking our allies is exactly what Trump would do if he was a Russian agent.

[Tim S]

33. It won't be long before all former allies cut ties & isolate us like N Korea

If I were them, I would have done it as soon as Trump started his “flexing” last year on his “Liberation Day”

[Ray Bruns]

35. I'm sure the feeling is mutual.

[Scrivener7]

36. What an asshole.

[SidneyR]

38. Now I want to go to Spain.

I hear they have great wine.

[sdfernando]

44. We do! /nt

[niyad]

49. And olive oil!

[blm]

53. Baby blm is there. She says the vegetables are far superior.

[SamuelAdams]

39. How does this get fixed?

Even if we elect a reasonable Democrat in 2028, why would the world not worry we'll elect another Trump in 2032 or 2036? There is no reason for them to trust us anymore after we elected him twice.

[iemanja]

41. Now Spain needs to win the World Cup.

[Justice matters.]

45. How long will all the other nations in the NATO alliance tolerate

getting endlessly insulted and humiliated by that childish pedophile?

Spain should start the ball rolling and gather with all the other nations in order to withdraw from that bullying idiot's perceived "kingdom of the world" and form a new adult alliance without him in it.

Call it the "ANTIFASCIST ALLIANCE" and adopt the same Charter with the same Article 5 in it.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

46. Did they refuse to kiss Donny's oversized stinky ass?

[Progressive dog]

47. And almost no elected Republicans

will dare say that his nastiness is unacceptable or even criticize him in any way.
How is it possible that any thinking person could continue to support this poor excuse for a human.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

48. MaddowBlog-Trump keeps threatening to cut off trade with Spain, but he can't follow through

“We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore,” the president said. It’s not nearly that simple.

Why does it matter that Trump ordered an end to U.S. trade with Spain?

In part because he can’t do that, and in part because he clearly doesn’t know that he can’t do that.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-07-08T20:44:45.086Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-spain-trade-threats-nato-eu

It’s never been altogether clear why Donald Trump harbors so much animosity toward Spain, though it’s been evident for a while. Just days into the president’s second term, he tried to deride the international BRICS coalition, which he occasionally pretends to understand......

But perhaps most importantly, Trump has talked more than once in recent months about ending all trade between the United States and Spain. He brought it up unprompted at multiple White House events shortly after the war with Iran began, following a dispute over the U.S. military’s use of Spanish air bases.

This week, he did it again during the NATO summit in Turkey.

Trump: "Spain is a wasted cause. We don't want to do any trade business with Spain anymore, by the way. I'd like to cut it off. Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. Cut off all trade with Spain, please. Including visits. We don't want anything to do. They're hopeless. Bad people."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-07-08T11:41:28.628Z

In other words, the White House can’t single out Spain for some kind of trade embargo without affecting the rest of the European Union, which is a fight the administration has been reluctant to pick.

As for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who shrugged off the American president’s latest threat, there’s a broader dynamic the White House might not fully appreciate. Trump is wildly unpopular in Spain, and every time the Republican lashes out at the country, Sánchez reaps the political benefits.

All things considered, the Spanish prime minister probably hopes that Trump will keep making threats.