President sharply criticizes Spain and the UK over NATO spending and cooperation
Get AI-powered insights, summaries, and transcripts
Subscribe
Summary
During an Oval Office press session the President criticized Spain for not meeting NATO spending targets and said the U.S. may "cut off all dealings" with Spain; he also criticized the UK over energy and immigration policies and praised Germany's cooperation.
Reporters asked how NATO partners could help after the regional tensions. The President criticized some European partners while praising others, saying Germany had been "great," but that "Spain has been very, very uncooperative" on defense spending. "Spain was the only country that in NATO would not agree to go up to 5%." he said, and later added, "we're gonna cut off all trade with Spain. We don't want anything to do with Spain," a statement presented as his comment to reporters.
When asked about the United Kingdom, the President said he was "not happy" with aspects of U.K. policy on an island lease dispute, energy and immigration. He raised energy and immigration as central problems and urged opening up North Sea energy resources as a policy solution.
Chancellor Mertz reiterated that Germany has been supportive of U.S. and allied actions and that Berlin wants a common security approach; he did not endorse the President's trade threats but emphasized cooperative planning. A U.S. official present said investigations under section 301 would proceed and named ongoing work by USTR and Commerce to examine unfair trade practices.
No formal sanctions or trade embargo against Spain, nor a binding NATO change, was announced at the meeting. The President described the comments as intentions or policy positions expressed to reporters during the session.