<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Donald Trump's first 100 days in the White House have had an inevitable influence not only on Spanish foreign policy toward Ukraine and Gaza, but also on the domestic and European policy of Pedro Sánchez's government in two crucial aspects: the response to the trade war launched by Washington and the accelerated increase in defense spending to end the traditional, and now uncertain, dependence on the United States in this area.</strong></h4> The Spanish government's stance following Donald Trump's victory adopted a particularly conciliatory tone. President of the Government Pedro Sánchez didn't even wait for the official results of the November US presidential elections to congratulate Donald Trump on his return to the White House and express his desire to "work" with the new US administration. A week later, Pedro Sánchez had a telephone conversation with Trump to congratulate him on his electoral victory. On January 20, following Trump's inauguration as the 47th president of the United States, Pedro Sánchez once again congratulated the US president on his return to the White House and expressed his desire to "work with the new US Administration to strengthen the strategic relationship between our countries and address common global challenges." <h5><strong>Tariffs</strong></h5> However, as conciliatory as the Sánchez administration's initial tone was, Trump's intentions were made clear from his first day in office, when he threatened to impose a 100% trade tariff on Spain, arguing that "it is a BRICS nation" (the group made up of several emerging economies named after its founding members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). Those words heralded the trade war that the US president would launch against virtually the entire world, which materialized on April 2 with the imposition of 24% tariffs on products from the European Union, including, of course, Spanish products. Following this decision, Pedro Sánchez announced his intention to ask the European Commission to adopt a series of "urgent measures at the community level" to mitigate the effects of the "trade war" initiated by Trump and presented a €14.1 billion Trade Response and Relaunch Plan to "mitigate the negative impacts" of the new US tariff policy. On April 10, the Spanish government welcomed Trump's decision to postpone the imposition of tariffs for 90 days and expressed its hope that it would be an "open door" to negotiation. <h5><strong>Ukraine and Defense</strong></h5> On the other hand, and as expected, Trump has also shaken up international politics and, therefore, Spain's position in the face of the major geopolitical challenges of the moment. On the one hand, the Spanish government has adopted exactly the same position as the rest of the EU regarding the agreement between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. This agreement has yet to yield any real results and has baffled everyone, with the White House resident's insults to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, his praise for Putin, and his defense of a peace agreement clearly unfavorable to Ukraine. The message from Spain and the EU throughout this time has always been the same: any "just and lasting" peace must involve the participation of both Ukraine and the European Union. Likewise, the Spanish government has repeatedly denounced Putin's "delaying" tactics to delay any ceasefire or peace agreement and has expressed its support for Zelensky in the face of Trump's pressure and contempt. Another key chapter in this story was Donald Trump's decision to order the immediate suspension of all military aid to Ukraine, after which the Spanish government insisted on its intention to "support Ukraine as long as necessary" to achieve a "just and lasting peace." Furthermore, this new outlook highlighted Europe's need to strengthen its defense so as to avoid continuing to depend on its eternal Atlantic protector, and even less so at this time. This new stance resulted in the European Council's presentation of the White Paper on Defense, which includes joint procurement and a strategic reserve of munitions and missiles, and the first proposals for the Commission's plan to rearm Europe. In this context, Pedro Sánchez (who rejected the term "rearmament") pledged in Brussels to bring forward the commitment to reach two percent of GDP for defense spending, previously announced for 2029. On April 22, during an urgent appearance at the Moncloa Palace after the Council of Ministers, he presented the National Plan for the Development and Promotion of Security and Defense Technology and Industry. The objective is to reach the two percent commitment made to NATO and the EU rearmament plan by 2025. As expected, this decision opened new gaps between the PSOE and Sumar, the two parties in the coalition government. <h5><strong>Gaza and the Spanish in the White House</strong></h5> Another inevitable clash between Spain and the US has been related to Trump's staunch support for the Israeli government. One of the most tense moments arose after the US president's proposal to "take control" of the Gaza Strip and undertake the reconstruction of the territory to turn it into a kind of tourist resort under US authority (the "Middle Eastern Riviera"), which entailed the "permanent" eviction of its 2.3 million Palestinian inhabitants. Albares described Trump's proposal as "unacceptable from a moral point of view" and warned that it represents "a violation of the most basic principles of international law." On February 7, Spain joined the joint declaration signed by nearly 80 countries, which did not include Italy or Hungary, in defense of the International Criminal Court against Donald Trump's attacks. According to the signatories, the ICC represents "a vital pillar of the international justice system by ensuring accountability for the most serious international crimes and justice for victims." As if that weren't enough, Trump further touched a nerve in Spain with his decision to shut down the Spanish-language page of the White House website. King Felipe VI himself called this measure "striking," and the director of the Cervantes Institute, Luis García Montero, denounced the "arrogance" of the US president, who has reduced Spanish to "a language of the poor and migrants." <h5><strong>Marco Rubio</strong></h5> Furthermore, another notable element of these 100 days has been the almost systematic "no" from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to José Manuel Albares. The two ministers held their first virtual conversation on April 2, in which they discussed "the importance of the transatlantic bond and dialogue and cooperation in security and trade." By then, the Secretary of State had already spoken in person or by telephone with nearly 100 of his counterparts or leaders from different countries, but he had not yet spoken with his Spanish counterpart. Albares and Rubio met physically at the Munich Security Conference, held from February 14 to 16, and at the NATO ministerial meeting in the first week of April, but there were no bilateral meetings at either meeting. On the other hand, Cuban-American businessman Benjamín León Jr. will be the next United States ambassador to Madrid, according to Donald Trump himself before taking office. León's appointment (born in 1944 in Oriente, Cuba, and emigrated to Miami in 1961) still needs to be approved by the Senate, which seems all but certain given the Republican majority in the House. The United States Embassy in Madrid has been vacant since last July, when Julissa Reynoso, ambassador since January 2022, left the post.
