Spain’s PM Responds to Trump’s Threats to ‘Cut Off’ Trade | WSJ

- We are a reliable partner with the US, and even though, of course, we have these disagreements. - [Gordon] Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has found himself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration. - The people of Spain are fantastic. The leadership, not so good. - [Gordon] His vocal opposition to the conflict in Iran has sparked a sharp backlash. - [Gordon] With the White House threatening retribution. - We're gonna cut off all trade with Spain. We don't want anything to do with Spain. - You ready, Mr. Prime Minister? - Of course. - I sat down with Prime Minister Sanchez to discuss the deepening rift between Spain and President Trump, and how it's testing the Transatlantic Alliance. What would you say are the biggest consequences of the current tensions between Washington and a lot of European capitals? - I do believe that there are more common values that we share, than we disagree upon. So I think that it's important to build up a positive agenda between the US and the European Union. Second, it's difficult to understand how an ally could separate its individual security concerns vis-a-vis the common security reality that we provide within NATO when it comes to Greenland and the Arctic. - [Gordon] Trump's insistence that the US control Greenland has strained the NATO alliance. Member states have viewed the demand for the island as a direct threat to European sovereignty, but it's been a battle on several fronts. Trump has called out European allies for not spending enough on their own defense. Spain has resisted efforts to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, the number Trump is demanding. - We had one laggard, it was Spain, maybe you should throw 'em out of NATO, frankly. - So you've become something of a lightning rod for criticism from the Trump administration, and at the same time, we've seen a growing number of Americans choosing to move to Spain and make their lives here. What do you make of that paradox? - You know, I belong to a progressive family, the Socialist Party but I can tell you that, over the last seven years, what I've been trying to develop when it comes to our bilateral relations is to strengthening this bilateral relationship between Spain and the US. But it's also very important to keep in mind that, you know, allies are like friends, we can disagree temporary, but it's important that we tell each other the truth, no matter what. - [Gordon] That truth could come at a heavy price. President Trump has threatened to stop trade with Spain after Madrid said it wouldn't allow the US to use its bases for American strikes on Iran. - We could use their base if we want, we could just fly in and use it. Nobody's gonna tell us not to use it, but we don't have to, but they were unfriendly. And so, I told him we don't wanna, Spain has absolutely nothing that we need, other than great people, they have great people, but they don't have great leadership. - [Gordon] It's unclear though how the Trump administration would be able to shut off trade with one country in the EU, while staying open to the rest. - What do you think? - The White House has never specified what it would do and no official action has been taken. Could the US really do that to your country and what would the impact be? - I think that the relationship between the US and Spain are closer than ever. Americans love Spain and we want to have the best economic and political and cultural relationship with the US administration, even though, of course, we have temporary disagreements, for instance, when it comes to the fulfillment of international law and how do we solve different crises that unfortunately are creating a lot of problems, not only on the economic side, but also on the humanitarian side when it comes to these wars. - You've been quite blunt in your criticism of the US and Israeli war with Iran. - Why have you chosen to be so outspoken on this issue? - Well, as I said, there's a moral dimension of this war or these wars, I would say, because I think all of them are interconnected. The Gaza war, of course, what is happening in Lebanon and, of course, in Iran.

I do believe that there is a clear strategy from Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government to create a new geopolitical reality in the Middle East. I don't know if the US administration is aligned with that vision or not. We are very concerned about the situation in the Middle East because, at the end of the day, we suffer the instability, we suffer, of course, the insecurity and the economic impact of all these wars. And that is why we are so engaged and we're so vocal stating that we need to return to diplomacy. In my view, this war in Iran is a big mistake for the world, and therefore for the US. - Do you think that the US and Europe share the same values? Is there still a United West? - Well, I think actually that we share common values, defending open markets defending multilateralism, international order and democracy. The transatlantic agenda is nowadays very weak when it comes to trade, the respect of territorial integrity, for instance, in the case of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark, and, of course, the situation in Ukraine. - Obviously, we've seen what Russia is doing there, certainly, a number of your counterparts have expressed concern that this could develop into a wider conflict on the continent. Do you feel that Europe is prepared for that? Is Spain prepared for that? - So I do agree that this war in Ukraine is not only about Ukraine, but it's also about how Putin is trying to undermine and weaken, weakening the European Union project. Second, I think that there's a roadmap, a clear roadmap when it comes to, what are the duties that European Union should take and make, and that means that we need to scale up our defense industry, that we need to strengthen our single market, and economic policies that could make Europe more resilient towards these kind of shocks in Ukraine or in the Middle East. - And do you think people in Spain and across Europe more broadly are ready for the trade-offs that might require to be increasing spending on defense and taking steps to make Europe more competitive? - Well, I think that we are ready. There's a competitive agenda more linked to the green transition to a digital union market, to a energy union market to a social pillar that we need to strengthen within the European Union that is what Spain stands for. The paradox in Europe is that, unfortunately, we have also other visions, other approaches that are more linked to, let's say the regulation instead of harmonization and simplification of the regulatory framework in Europe. I hope that we can have and reach an agreement about the roadmap that we must follow within the European Union to get that competitiveness and to enhance our strategic autonomy for the coming years.