Trump threatens Spain trade, demands US take over Greenland at NATO summit

The US president described Spain as a ‘terrible partner’ over its actions during the Iran" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="38678" data-entity-type="event">US-Israel war on Iran.United States President Donald Trump has threatened to cut ties with Spain and insists he still wants Greenland, as NATO leaders met for a summit in the Turkish capital Ankara.“I’m very upset with NATO,” he told reporters on Wednesday as he met alliance chief Mark Rutte before the main summit session.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3NATO summit begins: Who’s attending and what’s at stake?list 2 of 3Trump criticises NATO allies over Iran conflict supportlist 3 of 3French president visits Syria ahead of NATO summit in Turkiyeend of list“I’m not happy with NATO because of what they did with Greenland, and I’m not happy with NATO because of the fact that they didn’t want to help us with the number one state sponsor of terror, that’s Iran.”Trump singled out Spain for particular criticism, calling it a “terrible partner in NATO”.“Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain any more,” he said, asking Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to “cut it off”.In March, Spain said the US would not be allowed to use joint military bases on its territory for operations against Iran and closed its airspace to US planes involved in the war.The office of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a statement it was treating Trump’s statements as “business as usual” and did not intend to change the “excellent” relations it enjoyed with Washington.It pointed out that Spain had ⁠a trade deficit with the US and that economic ties were forged by private companies rather than governments, adding that as part ⁠of the customs and trade union, individual European Union members could not be singled out.Meanwhile, the EU said it expected the US to honour its trade deal obligations with the 27-member body.“I remind you that ⁠we signed a joint ⁠statement with the US last year. We expect the US to honour its commitments under that joint ⁠statement, as we have honoured ours,” European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said in a statement.