{"id":52260,"date":"2026-07-08T21:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/52260\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T21:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T21:18:14","slug":"heres-why-trump-threatened-to-cut-off-trade-with-spain-and-which-goods-could-become-hard-to-get-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/52260\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s why Trump threatened to cut off trade with Spain \u2014 and which goods could become hard to get in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to cut off all trade with Spain<\/a>, due to Madrid\u2019s refusal to increase military spending and its airspace restrictions<\/a> on the US\u2019s attacks on Iran.<\/p>\n

Trump has warned NATO allies against playing \u201cfunny math\u201d<\/a> with their defense spending \u2014 by either failing to lay out clear plans to meet the figure or including non-military expenses \u2014 to European allies.<\/p>\n

Follow The Post\u2019s live coverage of President Trump and national politics for the latest news and analysis<\/a><\/p>\n

While every allied country did hit the 2% defense spending threshold in 2025, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte <\/a>backs Trump\u2019s insistence that all members are on track to raise their defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. via REUTERS<\/p>\n

However, Spain appears far from that goal on paper. Socialist President Pedro Sanchez has refused to spend more than 2.1% of the country\u2019s GDP on defense.<\/p>\n

As for Trump\u2019s latest threat to cut off trade, S\u00e1nchez\u2019s office said that Madrid \u201cmaintains an excellent social, cultural, and economic relationship with the US, and we have no intention of seeing that change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such trade cutoffs aren\u2019t easy to achieve. <\/p>\n

Ending all trade with the country will limit Americans\u2019 access to common household goods, such as olive oil, and interfere with existing agreements with the European Union.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump: \u2018Spain is a wasted cause\u2019<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Trump said \u201cSpain is a wasted cause,\u201d and that the US doesn\u2019t \u201cwant to do any trade business with Spain anymore.\u201d The president said he ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off all trade for the second time this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don\u2019t participate, they don\u2019t pay. I don\u2019t want to have anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits\u2026 Watch them come running back,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

Trump at NATO conference looking at Sanchez. dpa\/picture alliance via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have to trade with them. I don\u2019t want to do any more trade with them, alright? Immediately,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump said that Spain would put down their \u201chostile\u201d front when they \u201ccall up and they [say], \u2018Please, please. We want to trade with you, sir. We want to trade with you, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president added that Spain makes so much money from the US, and everyone will see the country making much less without American business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The cost of cutting trade: olive oil imports<\/p>\n

The US and Spain trade roughly $47 billion annually in goods. While the US exports energy products, industrial machinery, aerospace equipment, and pharmaceuticals to Spain, the US imports more common goods from Spain.<\/p>\n

Common Spanish goods imported include Spanish pharmaceuticals, oils, specialty food products, wine, perfumes, cosmetics, and various machinery and electronic equipment. <\/p>\n

Spanish meat preserves REUTERS<\/p>\n

The US imported $22.1 billion worth of Spanish goods<\/a> in 2025. However, this figure dropped by $2 billion at the start of Trump\u2019s second administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Between April 2025 and April 2026, the exports from the US to Spain decreased by $747 million,<\/a> and imports decreased by $179 million. Only 4.9% of Spanish exports go to the US, and 1.2% of total US exports go to Spain.<\/p>\n

However, 18% of Spanish imports account for food products, with 14% of that representing oils and fats.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Spain is the world\u2019s leading olive oil producer and exporter \u2014 accounting for nearly half of all global supply. Annual US imports of Spanish virgin olive oil represent close to 90 million kilograms of product, exceeding $860 million worth of product, according to the World Bank Group.<\/a><\/p>\n

Spanish wine and vermouth REUTERS<\/p>\n

Spanish-produced olives REUTERS<\/p>\n

If the US seeks to officially cut off trade with Spain, a significant share of imports would disappear. Many olive oils sold in US grocery stores are either under Spanish brands or contain Spanish oil.<\/p>\n

Prices of olive oil\u00a0\u2014 among other products and goods \u2014 could also increase.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The USDA<\/a> reported that the US produces less than 2% of the olive oil the country consumes, forcing the US to import from other countries such as Italy, Greece, Portugal, Tunisia or Turkey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the International Olive Council<\/a>, the US is the world\u2019s largest olive oil importer. Olive oil production is limited in the short term, meaning that an increased demand from the US would likely push prices higher.<\/p>\n

Spanish olive oil REUTERS<\/p>\n

Spanish cheese REUTERS<\/p>\n

This could also cause US retailers to lose access to certain products, and cause restaurants and food manufacturers to rethink their prices.<\/p>\n

Cutting off complete trade is not as easy as it seems\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the NATO press conference on Wednesday, Trump was asked about the trade agreement with the European Union and whether he would seek to cut trade with Spain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see what happens with the E.U. They have treated us very badly for years and they took advantage,\u201d he responded.<\/p>\n

Under the trade agreement the US has with the EU \u2014 which took effect on July 1<\/a> \u2014Spain\u2019s foreign trade is governed by the bloc\u2019s deals. Trade negotiations were conducted as a single bloc, rather than individual member states.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement, the US established a 15% tariff ceiling for most European goods, and granted preferential market access for certain US farm produce, seafood and extended tariff-free status for US lobster.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte greeting Sanchez AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

If Trump does cut ties with Spain, he could be disrupting the entire EU pact \u2014 potentially leading to a trade war.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

How Trump can retaliate against Spain<\/p>\n

Under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act<\/a>, the president has the power to restrict or block foreign countries\u2019 economic deals. This act is only possible if Trump can prove that such a country presents an \u201cunusual or extraordinary threat\u201d to US national security, foreign policy or the economy \u2014 and declare the situation a national emergency.<\/p>\n

The IEEPA has been used previously<\/a> with Iran in 1979, Iraq in 1990, Sudan in 1997, and Syria in 2004.<\/p>\n

Other options Trump can seek that\u2019s not as intense as a full embargo do exist. Under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962<\/a>, the president can impose tariffs or set quotas on specific goods if the Commerce Department sees them to pose a threat to national security.<\/p>\n

Another option is Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974<\/a>. Trump could impose penalties on Spain if actions are determined to be unfair or burdensome to US commerce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Various Spanish products REUTERS<\/p>\n

During Trump\u2019s first presidency, the administration used \u201canti-dumping rules\u201d \u2014 under the 1930 Tariff Act<\/a> \u2014 to impose a 34.75% tariff <\/a>on Spain\u2019s black olives stating that \u201cproducers received unfair subsidies.\u201d The policy was quickly challenged after and overturned by the World Trade Organization. However, Spain\u2019s share of the US black olive market plummeted from 49% in 2017 to 19% in 2024.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Trump said that he \u201cmay\u201d punish Spain for refusing to reach the 5% threshold in military spending. Trump escalated in March by instructing Bessent to cut off trade with Spain<\/a>. However, the two countries continued to trade normally, and no investigations have been disclosed on the Federal Register.<\/a><\/p>\n

The office of S\u00e1nchez responded to Trump\u2019s comments, calling them \u201cas a matter of routine\u201d and added that Madrid \u201cmaintains an excellent social, cultural, and economic relationship with the US, and we have no intention of seeing that change.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Post Wires. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to cut off all trade with Spain, due to Madrid\u2019s refusal to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[333,305,24,17,210,964,26,738],"class_list":["post-52260","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-european-union","tag-nato","tag-politics","tag-spain","tag-trade","tag-trump","tag-united-states","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}