While meeting in the White House with the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Trump revealed that he plans to slam the door on trade with Spain, over that country's refusal to comply with NATO military spending requirements. Chancellor Merz appears to be going along with the notion, and that could make things for Spain very difficult.
NOW - Germany's Merz supports U.S. embargoing Spain, claims it's to "convince" them to increase NATO spending. pic.twitter.com/YdVEi4ucsF
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) March 3, 2026
Speaking to the media, Chancellor Merz says:
The answer on that is quite simple, we are trying to convince Spain to catch up with the three percent, or 3.5 percent which we agreed on in NATO. And, as the president said, it's correct, Spain is the only one who's not willing to accept that. And we are trying to convince them that this is a part of our common security, that we all have to comply with these numbers, and that it is 3.5 for military and another 1.5 for our military infrastructure. So, Spain has to comply with that.
This isn't the only way in which Spain is, to put it bluntly, screwing up.
Read More: Spain Defies Reality, Tells Hundreds of Thousands of Illegal Immigrants They're Free to Stay
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At least one report notes that President Trump may have other reasons for cutting off trade with Spain.
iShares MSCI Spain ETF (NYSE:EWP) fell 5.6% mid-day Tuesday following President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will cut off all trade with Spain.
The move comes after the Spanish government denied U.S. forces use of its military bases for operations related to the attack on Iran. At least 11 U.S. KC-135T and KC-135R tanker aircraft departed the southern Spanish bases of Rota and Morón late Sunday evening after Spain objected to the operation.
"Spanish military bases will not be used for anything that falls outside the agreement with the United States and the United Nations Charter," José Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, said Sunday in an interview on Spanish television. He called the U.S.-Israeli operations "unilateral."
The Spanish government stated Monday that it had denied the use of its military bases to U.S. forces involved in the Iran attack, including key refueling aircraft that left Spain for other countries on Sunday.
That can't have made President Trump happy.
Spain is in a rather sad position these days. The nation has a great history: One of the first superpowers, Spain opened up much of Central and South America (not always to the immediate benefit of the locals) to European exploration, and the Spanish Armada was one of the first great naval fleets - until the Royal Navy and a fortuitous storm defeated them.
Now? Spain is a pale shadow of what it was. The Islamic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula, Round Two, looks like it will meet with quite a bit more success than the first one. Even more than much of the rest of Europe, Spain seems to be dying a death of apathy. That's too bad - but Spain chose this road. Now they must walk it, for better or worse.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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