Spain says US ties positive after Trump trade threat

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Wednesday that Spain's relations with the United States remained “very positive” after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut off trade and criticised Spain's NATO role.

At a NATO summit in Ankara, Trump called Spain a “terrible partner in NATO” and said: “We don't want to do any trade business with Spain anymore.”

Sanchez told a post-summit press conference that relations between Spain and the United States were positive in social, cultural, economic and political terms.

He said he had held “an informal chat” with Trump in Ankara about football and that “there was absolutely no kind of tension.”

Any attempt to impose trade restrictions on Spain would be complicated by its membership of the European Union, which allows goods to move freely among its 27 member countries. The item also said it was unclear what power Trump would have to end trade with Spain after the US Supreme Court struck down his use of emergency powers to impose arbitrary tariffs.

Sanchez cited Spain's contributions to NATO and Ukraine, including raising defence spending to 2% of gross domestic product.