Donald Trump ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off all trade with Spain during a press conference at the Nato summit in Ankara on Tuesday, declaring the EU power “a terrible partner” that “doesn’t participate” and “doesn’t pay”. The US president told reporters: “We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore. By the way, I’d like you to cut it up. Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits… All right, take it immediately.”
The outburst, delivered alongside Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, came as Trump also declared the ceasefire with Iran “over” after renewed strikes overnight. “I think it is over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore. They’re scum,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned it’s just a waste of time dealing with them. They’re liars… There’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo.”
“Trump cuts all trade with Spain, declares Iran ceasefire over, and threatens to pull US troops from Europe at Nato summit.”
Despite the rant, Rutte insisted the US remained committed to the alliance. “There is complete commitment from the United States to Nato,” he said. “The commitment is there, no doubt, also because Nato is there in the United States’s interest, to prevent, for example, the nuclear submarines of Russia ending up on the shores of the United States.” He added that there was “an expectation” that European allies and Canada would “equalise their spending with the US”.
Trump then revived his demand for America to take control of Greenland, claiming Denmark “doesn’t spend money to really help Greenland” and that the island “should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark”. He said the row had “hurt my relationship with Nato”.
The president went on to suggest US troops could be pulled from bases across Europe “because, as you probably noticed, Europe’s a very different place than it was 20 years ago”. He warned: “If they’re not careful with immigration and energy, you’re not going to have a Europe anymore.”
Earlier, Trump had effectively hijacked a Q&A session with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, interjecting to announce he would lift sanctions on Ankara imposed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. Erdogan was prevented from responding.
The summit also represents a chance for Sir Keir Starmer to bow out from the world stage. Meanwhile, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever suggested the US’s World Cup loss to Belgium had hit Trump “hard”, but said he would not needle the president by bringing it up first.
