Spain taking a step back? White House: Madrid agrees to military cooperation

The Spanish authorities heard the president's message and agreed to cooperate with the American military, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday. In this way, she suggested that trade relations with Madrid would not be severed.

“As for Spain, I think they clearly heard the president's message yesterday and, if I understand correctly, in the last few hours they agreed to cooperate with the US military,” Leavitt said, responding to a question about Donald Trump's announcement on Tuesday of cutting off trade relations with Spain. The reason was Madrid's refusal to use naval bases in Spain to attack Iran.

The spokeswoman noted that the US expects support from all of Europe.

– I know that the US military is coordinating with its counterparts in Spain, but the president expects all of Europe, all of our European allies, of course, to cooperate in this long-awaited mission, not only for the United States, but also for Europe, to destroy the Iranian regime, which, I repeat, threatens not only America, but also our European allies, she noted.

Authorities in Madrid have not yet confirmed Leavitt's statement.

Trump announced the severance of trade relations with Spain during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, expressing anger at its attitude.

– We will cut off all trade with Spain. We don't want anything to do with Spain, Trump said. – I told Scott (Bessent, finance minister) to cut off all (trade) contacts with them, the president said during a meeting with Mayor at the White House.

He noted that Spain has not increased defense spending to 5%. GDP. – And now Spain has said that we cannot use their bases – he added. He assessed that Spain was not friendly towards the USA.

On Monday, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles announced that military bases in southern Spain, which have been used by American troops for decades, are not providing assistance to the US army in its offensive against Iran.

Robles emphasized that assistance can only be granted under international law. She recalled that the US-Spanish agreement on the use of bases does not allow the US army to act unilaterally, without an international framework.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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