# Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez is the Prime Minister of Spain and leader of the center-left PSOE, and — as of the [[Iran War 2026]] — the European leader who broke most sharply with [[Donald Trump]]. Where most NATO governments tiptoed around the war, Sánchez's government refused to let the United States use Spanish soil to wage it, making Spain the target of Trump's most extreme retaliatory outburst at the [[NATO Summit Ankara 2026]]: an order to cut off all trade with a fellow NATO member. ## The Break Over the Iran War Spain was the one NATO government to actively obstruct the U.S. campaign against Iran: - **March 1, 2026** — Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced the joint bases at **Rota** (naval) and **Morón** (air) in southern Spain would not be made available for missions tied to the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, arguing the offensive was neither covered by the bilateral defense agreement with Washington nor consistent with the UN Charter. U.S. refueling aircraft were relocated as a result. - **March 25, 2026** — Sánchez warned the war would prove "far worse" than the 2003 Iraq invasion, framing Spain's stance as continuous with its positions on Ukraine and Gaza: "No to the breakdown of international law that protects us all. No to resolving conflicts with bombs. No to war." - **March 30, 2026** — Spain closed its airspace to U.S. aircraft involved in strikes against Iran. Polling found a majority of Spaniards (about 53%) backed the refusal to hand over the bases. ## The NATO Spending Feud Sánchez is also the leader Trump singled out over defense spending. At the 2025 NATO summit at The Hague, the alliance agreed — at Trump's prompting — to target defense spending of 5% of GDP; Spain was the only one of the 32 members to decline that target, arguing that its projected ~2.1% would meet its actual capability commitments and noting it now ranks around seventh among NATO members in spending. Trump had already threatened economic reprisals against Spain in March 2026 after Madrid blocked the bases. ## The Trade-Cutoff Outburst (July 2026) At the [[NATO Summit Ankara 2026]] on July 8, 2026, Trump called Spain a "terrible partner," a "wasted cause," and "bad people," and ordered Treasury Secretary [[Scott Bessent]] to halt all trade: "I don't want to do any more trade with them.… They make so much money with us, and we're going to see that they make a lot less." As economist [[Paul Krugman]] noted, the order was legally and practically hollow — the president lacks the authority, U.S. business would resist, and Spain trades as part of the European Union, making a U.S.-Spain trade cutoff roughly like the EU declaring it would cut off trade with Florida. Sánchez's office treated the statement as business as usual, noting that bilateral relations benefit both countries. ## See Also - [[Spain]] - [[NATO Summit Ankara 2026]] - [[Iran War 2026]] - [[NATO]] - [[Donald Trump]]