Spanish premier responds to Donald Trump’s threats ‘to make Spain pay’

OVIEDO, Spain

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday responded to US President Donald Trump’s threats to raise tariffs on Spain for refusing to spend 5% of its GDP on defense.

“Europe and the world are already suffering from a trade war being waged by the US, with tariff measures that we believe are unfair and unilateral,” Sanchez told reporters in Brussels when asked about Trump’s remarks the day prior.

“In the case of Spain, it’s double the lie because we have a trade deficit – not surplus – with the United States,” he added.

On Wednesday, Trump said he would negotiate “directly” with Sanchez on trade, saying: “We’re going to make them pay twice as much,” in terms of tariffs.

However, Sanchez pointed out that the EU is negotiating trade with the US on behalf of all member states. Individual nations are not carving out their own trade deals.

The US has already imposed a 10% import tax on all EU products, 50% on aluminum and steel, and 25% on vehicles.

The row between Spain and the US comes after Madrid persuaded NATO to allow more flexibility on the new 5% defense spending target.

“Spain is committed to members of the alliance, but is also sovereign. This is the balance that the 32 member states – including the United States – agreed upon in the declaration,” said Sanchez, referring to the Hague Summit Declaration signed Wednesday.

In the declaration, allies commit to investing 5% of GDP on core defense requirements and security by 2035. However, Spain has said it secured a deal to allow for some exemptions.

“Spain’s Ministry of Defense says that the capacities agreed upon … represent 2.1% of our GDP, and that’s what we are going to do,” said Sanchez, who has argued that spending 5% on defense would entail massive tax increases and cuts to Spain’s welfare state.

“Spain is the only country out of all of the countries that refuses to pay,” Trump said after Wednesday’s NATO meeting. “They want a little bit of a free ride, but they’ll have to pay it back to us in trade, because I’m not going to let that happen.”