Welcome Donald Trump
MadridProbably, no country wishes for a diplomatic conflict with the United States. Even if it's Trump's United States, they remain the world's leading power, still situated within the traditional Western bloc. However, this is not the case for Pedro Sánchez. Moncloa welcomes a new clash with Donald Trump, at a time of maximum tension due to the alleged corruption cases surrounding the PSOE and the Spanish government, and in a week when the focus of the NATO summit in Ankara, at a state level, was also on the bouquet of flowers that could not be delivered to Begoña Gómez due to the justice's veto on her leaving Spain. That is to say, even though Spain has responded with restraint, it suits Sánchez that for one day the framework of debate returns to international relations.
In fact, the engine room of Moncloa had assumed that the American president would give him the headline, and he was quick to react to the threat of cutting off trade with Spain. "He is a terrible NATO ally. He doesn't participate, he doesn't pay. I don't want anything to do with Spain," Trump stated, as the Spanish government maintains its goal of reaching 2% defense investment, compared to the 5% demanded by the United States. Moncloa had already prepared a response to send a message of calm.
Days before the summit, the Spanish government was already applying preventive measures, arguing that in relative terms Spain has been the sixth NATO state to most increase its defense spending: it has gone from 11,172 million euros in 2018, when Sánchez began to govern, to 35,419 million in 2026. That is to say, spending has multiplied by three according to the Spanish executive (154% in real terms), despite the discomfort it generates among government partners.
What if the United States decides to reduce the presence of troops at the American bases in Rota and Morón? The Spanish government considers it a sovereign decision of the United States that would not have implications for Spain's security. In practice, they recall, if there were an external attack, Article 5 of NATO would have to be activated, in which other states are obliged to act defensively. If Trump decided to withdraw the more than 3,000 military personnel from the two bases, it would be an issue that Sánchez could even champion as a triumph, for having stood up to the aggressive foreign policy of the American administration.
Despite the months of May and June being marked by the Zapatero case and the Leire Díez case, at Moncloa they remain insistent on the Sánchez vs. Trump strategy, as they consider it a way to also confront what a PP-Vox government could represent and mobilize the left. Furthermore, they believe that, although at the beginning the PSOE leader was alone, more and more European leaders have approached his stance. The latest, Giorgia Meloni, a hitherto ally of Trump, who has ended up publicly confronting the American president over differences regarding the war in Ukraine, Iran, and the United States president's attacks on the Pope of Rome.
Very relevant economic relations
It is also true, however, that the confrontation between Spain and the United States is aerial. That is to say, it is situated mainly at the highest level, while at lower levels, usual relations continue, including very relevant commercial and economic ones. It is interesting, in this regard, to follow the agenda of the new American ambassador to Madrid, Benjamin León. Of Cuban origin and with Canary Island ascendants, he speaks Spanish and maintains an emotional bond with Spain. After meeting with several ministers –Albares, Marlaska, Robles and Planas– and the vice president, Carlos Cuerpo, Benjamin León met on June 17 at Moncloa with Pedro Sánchez – the same day that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero testified at the National Court.
A rather unusual meeting, as the president does not usually receive ambassadors, but which took place after a public complaint from León about not having been officially received at the highest level yet. Feijóo and Abascal had received him, as had Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
After the meeting with Pedro Sánchez, a strategic issue has been resolved for both the United States and Spain: Indra and Santa Bárbara (a subsidiary of the American General Dynamics) have made peace and are studying the creation of a strategic alliance so that the American company can enter into major contracts with the Ministry of Defense. These are contracts that Santa Bárbara had challenged in court for having been excluded from the awards of two contracts for the special modernization programs (PEM) of the Spanish government. Not everything is confrontation.