{"id":7191,"date":"2026-07-08T11:50:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/7191\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T11:50:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:50:25","slug":"trump-orders-halt-to-u-s-trade-with-spain-demands-greenland-as-nato-summit-exposes-cracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/7191\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump orders halt to U.S. trade with Spain, demands Greenland as NATO summit exposes cracks"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday at a NATO summit he had ordered his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off all trade with Spain, calling Madrid a ‘terrible partner’ in the alliance.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump threw a summit of NATO leaders into disarray on Wednesday as he demanded the United States cut trade ties with Spain and made renewed claims on Greenland, irking another NATO ally Denmark.<\/p>\n

Speaking in the Turkish capital Ankara, Trump called Madrid a \u201cterrible partner\u201d in NATO as he railed against allies for not supporting the war on Iran and ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt all trade with Spain.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s remarks, also declaring the fragile ceasefire with Iran to be over, overshadowed a summit that European leaders had hoped would project unity and support for Ukraine and cap a series of rows that have threatened to tear the military alliance apart.<\/p>\n

Trump has \u2018won the argument\u2019 on NATO defence spending, Carney says at summit<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump spoke alongside NATO Secretary Mark Rutte, who has assiduously tried to assuage his concerns over defence spending, Iran and Greenland, while lavishing praise on the president for bringing such issues to the fore.<\/p>\n

They also undercut the carefully crafted pre-summit messaging that European NATO countries had stepped up to the plate on military spending, which saw at least US$50-billion in defence initiatives unveiled on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during a group photo at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday.Francisco Seco\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Washington and Madrid have been at loggerheads, with Spain explicitly rejecting Trump\u2019s demands for European countries to sharply increase military spending and pay for their own defence. Madrid\u2019s Socialist leadership has also refused to let the U.S. use its airspace or bases on its territory for the Iran war.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain is a wasted cause. We don\u2019t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore,\u201d Trump said. \u201cBy the way, I\u2019d like to cut it off. Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don\u2019t participate, they don\u2019t pay. I don\u2019t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, including visits.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, the office of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said it was treating Trump\u2019s statements as business as usual, adding that bilateral relations benefited both countries. <\/p>\n

Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia was more blunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a sovereign, democratic country that defends multilateralism and peace,\u201d she said on X. \u201cWhat\u2019s terrible is confusing diplomacy with bullying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about Trump\u2019s remarks, a NATO diplomat said: \u201cThe answer to every question POTUS raises is clear: build a more European NATO. That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing in Ankara.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump says interim deal to end war with Iran is \u2018over\u2019 after both sides trade strikes<\/a><\/p>\n

Trump calls Iran \u2018sick people\u2019 <\/p>\n

The U.S. has unleashed new military strikes on Iran and revoked a licence allowing Iran to sell oil in response to attacks on three tankers. It was the latest blow to a fragile ceasefire agreement in a war that is deeply unpopular in Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very interesting question. To me, I think it\u2019s over. I don\u2019t want to deal with them,\u201d Trump said when asked whether the interim accord with Iran that envisaged hammering out a long-term peace deal by mid-August was over. \u201cThey\u2019re scum. They\u2019re sick people. They\u2019re led by sick people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, it\u2019s just a waste of time dealing with them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Trump says interim agreement between U.S. and Iran is ‘over’ following U.S. strikes on Iran in reaction to attacks on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Rutte defended the new U.S. strikes and played down Trump\u2019s disappointment with allies over the Iran war as \u201cisolated cases.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI think what you did last night was absolutely necessary. It was a very strong response,\u201d Rutte told Trump. \u201cWhen you have a ceasefire and Iran is basically violating the ceasefire, I think it is totally crucial that the U.S. forcefully react.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also praised Trump for making European countries raise their game on defence spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important when it comes to NATO, what you have achieved, and this is a huge win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trump has accused European nations of failing to let U.S. forces use their airspace and bases on their territories during the war.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Why NATO needs to build a defence market<\/a><\/p>\n

European officials have said they largely honoured their commitments to U.S. forces, despite not having been consulted about a conflict that roiled their economies.<\/p>\n

Trump also demanded that his country control Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, reviving an issue that has put severe strain on the alliance that has underpinned Western security since the start of the Cold War.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreenland is very important for the United States, but it\u2019s not important for Denmark,\u201d he said. \u201cIn fact, when Denmark was overrun by the Nazis in less than one day \u2013 Hitler beat them out in one day, took over \u2013 they asked us to take care of Greenland. In fact, we took Greenland, and then stupidly we gave it back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterated that Greenland was not up for grabs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are ready to defend every inch of NATO, including our own territory,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Denmark\u2019s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Wednesday rejected Trump\u2019s renewed demands that the U.S. should take control of Greenland from NATO ally Denmark, saying that ‘Greenland is of course not for sale.’<\/p>\n

The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday at a NATO summit he had ordered his Treasury Secretary Scott…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[107,90,108,80,78,109,46,77,97,98,93,79,76,103,105,102,96,88,120,81,82,95,91,92,85,110,86,115,116,118,113,117,111,114,83,100,101,50,99,112,89,104,106,94,87,84,119],"class_list":["post-7191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}