From threats to praise: Trump claims Spain "redeemed itself" by agreeing to an "important" payment to NATO

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, affirmed this Thursday that Spain "completely redeemed itself" after the Spanish Government accepted an "important payment request" to NATO. The president made these statements aboard Air Force One during his return trip to Washington from Ankara.

Although he did not specify the exact content of the agreement, Trump praised the decision adopted by Spain and highlighted the change in attitude of the Spanish Executive regarding the demands made by the organization. "I must say that I had problems with Spain, and I still do, but today Spain completely redeemed itself. Spain was very generous today… they agreed to an important payment request, and if they hadn't, we wouldn't even have spoken to them," the US president stated.

Trump's words come just hours after a tough confrontation with Spain during the NATO summit in Ankara. In an appearance alongside the Alliance's Secretary General, Mark Rutte, the Republican leader even asked his Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, to suspend all commercial relations with Spain.

"Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don't participate, they don't pay. I don't want to have anything to do with Spain. Cut all trade with Spain, please, including visits," Trump declared then.

"There's no remedy, they are bad people," added the US president, before insisting that "they make a lot of money at our expense, and we are going to make them earn much less. I don't want to do business with them."

After these statements, NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, came to Spain's defense and recalled the effort made by the country in terms of military spending. "You mentioned Spain, you even managed to get Spain to pay 2%. They took a big step last year, so there are still problems to solve, but listen, even with Spain I would highlight that they have reached 2%," Rutte pointed out.

The controversy arises at a time when Spain maintains its refusal to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, one of Trump's main demands to NATO allies. The Government of Pedro Sánchez argues that an investment of 2.1% is sufficient to meet the commitments and capabilities required by the organization.

For his part, Sánchez also referred this Wednesday to the threats made by the US president. The head of the Executive explained that he had held a conversation with Trump after his statements and downplayed the episode. "We take it calmly and patiently. And with a certain normality as well. When one distances oneself a little from these statements, one sees that relations between the US and Spain are very positive," affirmed the president of the Government during his press conference in Ankara.

Sánchez also revealed that he had an informal conversation with the US president where they talked about issues far removed from international politics, such as football and golf.