President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday to sever all trade with Spain after Madrid refused to grant the US military access to jointly operated bases for strikes on Iran — the latest in a string of punitive moves the administration has deployed against those it views as uncooperative.
“We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain,” Trump told reporters during an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on March 4. “We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
Trump directed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to implement the embargo, telling the room he had instructed Bessent to “cut off all dealings” with Spain. Bessent offered legal backing for the move: “I agree that the Supreme Court reaffirmed your ability to implement an embargo.”
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The confrontation follows US and Israeli strikes on Iran that began on February 28. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares responded by stating that Spain’s jointly operated bases — including Rota and Morón in the country’s south — could only be used for operations consistent with the UN Charter. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez condemned the Iran strikes as a violation of international law.
The US subsequently relocated 15 aircraft, including refueling tankers, from both Spanish bases. Trump called Spain’s position unacceptable and dismissed its leadership. “Spain has been terrible,” he said. “Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people, but they don’t have great leadership.”
Trump also renewed criticism of Spain’s NATO defense spending, calling it “the only country in NATO” that refused to commit to the 5% of GDP target he has pushed for. He claimed Spain does not even meet the alliance’s current 2% benchmark. Merz backed the assessment, saying NATO allies needed to align on shared security obligations.
Days earlier, Trump signed an executive order banning all federal agencies from using Claude, the AI model built by San Francisco-based Anthropic, after the company refused to drop ethical guardrails the Pentagon demanded — specifically, restrictions preventing its technology from being used for mass domestic surveillance or to power fully autonomous weapons. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth designated Anthropic a “supply chain risk,” a label typically applied to hostile foreign entities.
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Hours after Trump announced the ban, US Central Command used Claude anyway. The military deployed the tool for intelligence assessments, target identification, and battlefield scenario simulation during the Iran strikes — and continued using it in the days that followed. Bloomberg later reported that Claude was so deeply embedded in Pentagon systems that replacing it could take three months or more.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told CBS News his company had sought to draw “red lines” because “we believe that crossing those lines is contrary to American values.” He added: “Disagreeing with the government is the most American thing in the world. And we are patriots.”
Read: The Pentagon Banned Anthropic — Then Gave OpenAI the Same Deal
With Anthropic sidelined, the administration moved quickly to fill the gap — OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI both signed new agreements for classified use. Neither is currently integrated into classified systems — and sources told Axios that xAI’s Grok “is not seen as a wholesale alternative to Claude.”
Spain’s government responded to Trump’s trade threat by pointing to legal constraints that could make the embargo difficult to execute. Because the European Union negotiates trade on behalf of all 27 member states, a unilateral US embargo on Spain would run up against an existing EU-US trade agreement.
“If the US administration wishes to review the trade agreement, it must do so respecting the autonomy of private companies, international law, and bilateral agreements between the European Union and the United States,” a spokesperson for Sánchez’s office said.
Spain said it had “the necessary resources to contain the possible impact of the trade embargo.” The European Commission echoed the warning: “The Commission will always ensure that the interests of the European Union are fully protected,” spokesperson Olof Gill said.
Spain is the world’s top exporter of olive oil and also exports auto parts, steel, and chemicals to the US, though analysts note it is less exposed to American trade pressure than many of its European counterparts.
The friction between Madrid and Washington stretches back further. Under Sánchez — widely regarded as one of the last major progressive leaders in Europe — Spain refused during the Gaza war to allow ships carrying weapons to Israel to dock in its ports. The country has also resisted US calls to raise NATO defense spending.
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