Trump Says He Will Cut Off Trade With Spain After Madrid Bars Base Use

President Trump said on Tuesday he has told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all dealings” with Spain after Madrid refused to let the U.S. military use its southern bases for operations tied to the strikes on Iran. Reuters reported that Trump made the remark during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, calling Spain “terrible” and saying it had “absolutely nothing that we need.”

The dispute centers on Rota and Moron, bases in southern Spain that the two countries operate jointly. Reuters reported that the U.S. moved 15 aircraft, including refueling tankers, out of them. The Associated Press said Spain’s foreign minister told the U.S. on Monday that Spain would not allow use of the bases for strikes not covered by the U.N. Charter, and a report dated the next day quoted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez as saying Spain would not be “complicit in something that is bad for the world.”

Trump also pointed to Spain’s refusal to meet NATO’s call for members to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense, Reuters said. He added that the U.S. “could use their base if we want,” the AP reported. Spain’s government says international law limits what the bases can be used for.

How a cutoff would work is unclear. The European Union negotiates trade for its 27 members, and Merz said Spain could not be excluded from the EU-U.S. trade agreement, Reuters reported. When Trump asked about embargo powers, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer replied, “We know you can use it,” and Bessent said the Trade Representative’s office and the Commerce Department would begin investigating other trade laws to penalize Spain. Georgetown professor Jennifer Hillman told Reuters an embargo would require declaring a national emergency over Spain, which would go “well beyond” previous uses of such powers. NYU’s Peter Shane questioned whether Spain’s base denial poses an “unusual and extraordinary threat.”

The economic stakes are modest for Spain and meaningful for some American businesses. The U.S. ran a $4.8 billion trade surplus with Spain in 2025, with $26.1 billion in exports and $21.3 billion in imports, according to Reuters. The AP put Spain’s exports to the U.S. at about 1 percent of its GDP. Reuters noted that Spain is the world’s top olive oil exporter.

Madrid said it has the resources to offset an embargo and would keep pushing for free trade, and that Washington should respect international law and U.S.-EU trade agreements, Reuters reported. Reuters noted that Sanchez has also refused to let vessels carrying weapons to Israel dock in Spain.