Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has responded to US President Donald Trump’s threats about the trade deal.
According to AA, after Spain refused to pay 5% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on defense to meet the NATO target, Trump threatened to make it pay twice in a trade deal.
Sanchez told reporters in Brussels, “Europe and the world are already suffering from a trade war being waged by the US, with tariff measures that we believe are unfair and unilateral. In the case of Spain, it’s double the lie because we have a trade deficit, not a surplus, with the United States.”
The Republican president during the summit in The Hague demanded a big increase in defense spending most of the leaders agreed, while Spain argued that it will meet the commitment by only spending over 2.1% of the GDP.
Meanwhile, the US president called the decision “very terrible” and warned, “We are negotiating with Spain on a trade deal. We're going to make them pay twice as much.”
After the Wednesday meeting, the 79-year-old said, “Spain is the only country out of all of the countries that refuses to pay. They want a little bit of a free ride, but they’ll have to pay it back to us in trade, because I’m not going to let that happen.”
Notably, the US has imposed 10% tariffs on all EU imports along with 25% on vehicles and 50% on aluminium and steel.
However, Spain does not have to directly deal with the US, as the EU is negotiating on behalf of all member states.
