US President Donald Trump on Wednesday launched a fresh attack on Spain over its defence spending within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), calling the country a “wasted cause” and declaring that the United States would no longer want to do trade business with Madrid.
Speaking to reporters alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte during the 2026 NATO Summit in Ankara, Trump accused Spain of failing to contribute adequately to the alliance and branded it a “terrible partner”.
“Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore, by the way,” Trump said.
He went on to add, “Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate, they don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
Trump’s remarks come as Spain remains the only NATO member that has declined to adopt the alliance’s new defence spending target. At the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, member states agreed to increase defence expenditure to five per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2035.
Spain negotiated an exemption, allowing it to limit military spending to 2.1 per cent of GDP instead of meeting the five per cent target. It also continues to rank among the alliance’s lowest defence spenders as a share of national output.
The comments are the latest in Trump’s long-running criticism of European allies over defence spending. Throughout his presidency, he has repeatedly argued that several NATO members rely too heavily on the United States for their security while failing to contribute their fair share.
Relations between Washington and Madrid have also been strained by wider foreign policy disagreements. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was among the few European leaders to openly criticise the US military action against Iran. Spain’s earlier decision to prevent the use of US military facilities in the country’s south in support of strikes on Iran further added to tensions between the two governments.
Stepping up his criticism, Trump described Spain’s leadership as “hopeless” and vowed to reduce economic engagement with the country.
“Don’t even talk to them. They’re hopeless, bad people. They make so much money with us, and we’re going to see that they make a lot less. I want no business with them,” Trump said.
