Madrid, Spain – Spain has pledged to continue opposing the war waged by the United States and Israel against Iran after President Donald Trump said Washington would cut all trade ties with Madrid.
The US leader’s rebuke on Tuesday came after Washington’s European ally refused to allow the US military to use its bases for missions related to attacks on Iran.
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“Spain has been terrible,” Trump told reporters Tuesday during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, adding: “We are going to cut off all trade with Spain. We want nothing to do with Spain.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, one of the few left-wing leaders in Europe to condemn the unilateral attack by the United States and Israel against Iran as “unjustifiable” and “dangerous,” said in a nationally televised speech on Wednesday that Spain’s position was “no to war.”
“This is how the great disasters of humanity begin… The world cannot solve its problems with conflicts and bombs.”
Its position consolidates Spain’s status as an atypical country in Europe; Madrid has been one of the few European nations to consistently condemn Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
At Bar Patrón in Malasaña, Madrid, Gema Tamarit watched Sánchez’s speech on the restaurant’s television, which turned up the volume.
“That Trump is crazy. We are not afraid of him. Good for Sánchez for defending him. Some more leaders in Europe should do the same,” said Tamarit, 53, a software engineer. “Of course, Iran is a terrible regime, but is this the way to change things, going to a war like this?”
A series of opinion polls have suggested that more than half of Spaniards oppose Trump’s foreign policy.
According to a Eurobazuka poll published in February, 53 percent opposed the American president’s policies, the third group by nationality after the French and Belgians, at 57 and 62 percent, respectively.
In another poll published in January, almost 60 percent of Spaniards said they did not agree with the US president’s operation to arrest former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, according to a survey published by GESOP for the media group Prensa Ibérica.
The Eurobazuka poll said 48 percent of Europeans considered Trump “an enemy of Europe,” compared to 10 percent who believed he was an ally.
Trump’s trade threat
Analysts said the United States may not be able to inflict much trade damage on Spain since it is part of the European Union.
Last month, the US Supreme Court declared Trump’s threat to impose a series of tariffs around the world illegal.
Víctor Burguete, a trade and economics expert at the Barcelona Center for International Affairs think tank, said the only way Trump could act against Spain would be to demonstrate that the United States faces a national emergency situation.
“It is not likely that I will be able to prove that acting against Spain is a national emergency,” he told Al Jazeera. “I think this is more of a threat than a real possibility of ending trade with Spain.
The dispute erupted when the United States on Monday relocated 15 aircraft, including refueling tankers, from the Rota and Morón military bases in southern Spain, after the country’s socialist government said it would not allow them to be used to attack Iran.
Trump has also addressed Spain’s refusal to increase NATO spending from 2 to 5 percent of gross domestic product, saying that “Spain has absolutely nothing of what we need.”
Sanchez has drawn Trump’s ire with policies including refusing to allow ships carrying weapons to Israel to dock in Spain and condemning Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Spain was one of the first Western European nations to recognize the State of Palestine in 2024, along with Ireland, Slovenia and Norway.
“Trump is simply angry that Spain has refused to increase NATO spending and has condemned tech companies connected to social media. And he has done so publicly,” Burguete said.
Spain announced last month that it was considering banning access to social media for children under 16 and was studying legal action against Grok, Instagram and TikTok.
Bruguete said he believed Sánchez took this anti-war stance because he opposed Trump’s “strongman policy,” but also because it worked well domestically ahead of next year’s general election.
“There is no doubt that Trump’s foreign policy is not popular in Spain,” he added.
Spain is the world’s top exporter of olive oil and sells auto parts, steel and chemicals to the United States, but it is less vulnerable to Trump’s threats of economic punishment than other European nations.
The United States had a trade surplus with Spain for the fourth consecutive year in 2025, of $4.8 billion, according to data from the US Census Bureau, with US exports of $26.1 billion and imports of $21.3 billion.
The EU said on Wednesday that it expected the United States to comply with a trade deal with the EU, that it was “ready to act” to safeguard its interests and that it stood in “full solidarity” with member states, but did not name Spain.
