US President Donald Trump has softened his tone towards Spain, just a day after calling Madrid a “terrible NATO partner” and threatening to sever all trade relations.
The Spanish government says the change came after Trump learned how Madrid had increased its spending within NATO in recent years.
The U.S.-Spain clash stems from the European country’s harsh criticism of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and long-standing disputes over defense spending.
Trump called Spain a “vain cause” and told reporters that the United States no longer wanted to do business with the country. He also asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to prepare for a trade shutdown.
Hours later, on his flight home on Air Force One, Trump spoke about Spain, but in a completely different tone.
Speaking to reporters, the 47th POTUS said: “I had problems, and I still have problems, but Spain came back all the way and was very generous.”
A spokesman for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Trump appeared to be referring to Spain meeting the old NATO defense spending target of 2% of GDP.
Sánchez stressed at the summit that Spain would achieve that goal this year, after more than doubling its defense budget since 2017, from less than 1% of GDP to nearly 33 billion euros, or about $37.7 billion.
