Pedro Sanchez has played down Donald Trump’s threats to cut all trade with Spain.
The Spanish prime minister claimed they enjoyed a ‘friendly’ conversation about football, the World Cup and even golf at the NATO summit in Turkey.
Speaking after the alliance’s meeting in Ankara, Sanchez insisted there had been ‘absolutely no tension’ between the two leaders despite Trump earlier branding Spain ‘a lost cause’.
The Spanish leader said their informal exchange took place after Trump’s explosive remarks and described it as a relaxed conversation.
‘We talked about football, the World Cup and even golf,’ Sanchez told reporters.
‘There was absolutely no tension.’
Rather than responding directly to Trump’s attacks, Sanchez dismissed them as part of the US president’s usual rhetoric.
‘I took them with calm, patience and even a certain normality,’ he said.
‘When you step back from the statements, what you see is that relations between the United States and Spain – culturally, socially and economically – are very positive.’
Sanchez also sought to downplay Trump’s threat to halt trade with Spain, pointing out that trade policy is negotiated by the European Union rather than individual member states.
He added that commercial relationships are ultimately built by businesses, not governments.
‘Trade relations are woven between companies, not governments or states,’ he said.
The prime minister also noted that Spain runs a trade deficit with the US, while stressing that Madrid remains committed to maintaining strong ties with Washington.
‘We want to preserve the best possible relationship with our allies, with whom we have long-standing ties that transcend political ideologies,’ he said.
Despite the warmer tone between the two leaders, Sanchez reiterated that Spain would not bow to pressure to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP.
He insisted Spain already meets NATO’s capability commitments while spending around 2% of GDP on defence, rejecting calls from Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for a much steeper increase.
‘We are a peaceful country, but also a reliable ally,’ Sanchez said, arguing that security should be built through ‘agreement’ rather than ‘imposition’.
