President Donald Trump ranted in his July 8 press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte about how “Spain is a wasted cause…. a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate. They don’t pay…. They are hopeless… bad people,” etc. “I don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he said, ordering Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was present, “to cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits.... Watch them come running back,” he assured; “oh, they’ll come running back.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez responded in his own press conference that his government takes these threats “calmly, patiently, and with a sense of normalcy.” Relations between the United States and Spain have been “very positive socially, culturally, economically, and politically” over decades, no matter the ideologies of either country’s administrations. Sánchez also reported, that in a cordial, informal exchange after Trump’s press conference, largely about the World Cup and golf, he had reminded Trump, once again, that the U.S. enjoys a trade surplus with Spain.
Unsaid but clear: Were Trump to cut off trade with Spain, the U.S. would be the bigger loser. In 2025, the U.S. enjoyed a $5.25 billion goods trade surplus with Spain (the U.S. exporting $26.6 billion in goods while importing only $21.3 billion).
