Spain was crowned the winner of the 2026 World Cup in a match where the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the president of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, shared a box at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey where the match against Argentina was played. In this regard, before the match began, both presidents greeted each other with a handshake and exchanged a few brief words, after the differences between the countries.
After the victory, the American was one of those in charge of distributing the medals to the Spanish players and once the competition ended, Trump, asked about the political conflicts he has had with Spain, assured that he spoke "with Spain and congratulated them for having a great team" and then stated: "No, I have no tensions. I have no tensions with anyone."
I've been staked out on the other side of the stadium for two hours with a 600mm lens to get this photo....! pic.twitter.com/p1qE88lihb
— Miguel Morenatti (@MiguelMorenatti) July 19, 2026
Trump threatens Spain with trade
The latest tension between the countries occurred at the NATO summit held in Ankara when Trump stated: "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."
"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." Hours later, he stated that Spain "completely redeemed itself" after the Spanish Government accepted an "important payment request" to NATO.
The controversy arose at a time when Spain maintained its refusal to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, one of Trump's main demands to NATO allies. Pedro Sánchez's government defended that an investment of 2.1% is sufficient to meet the commitments and capabilities required by the organization.
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