Trump continues to threaten Spain, and the government responds that it fears “nothing”

Eduardo González US President Donald Trump has again threatened to “totally cut off all trade” with Spain for its refusal to support the offensive in Iran and to raise defense spending to five percent. In response, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares asserted that the Spanish government fears “nothing” and reiterated that “the EU’s trade policy is a common policy.” “They are not cooperating at all, they are being very bad, we could totally cut off all trade with them,” Trump told the correspondent for the Madrid-based newspaper ABC. “The situation with NATO is very bad. They receive protection. They don’t want to pay their fair share. And they’ve been like this for many years. The Spanish people are fantastic, like you, but the leaders… not so much,” he added. “I completely agree that the people of Spain are fantastic,” José Manuel Albares quipped this Thursday in an interview with TVE. In any case, the minister assured that the government is not worried that Washington will carry out its threats, because “the EU's trade policy is a common policy” and the European Commission has already made “very clear that any attempt at aggression against one country or commercial coercion is obviously an attack on the entire single market and all the countries of the European Union.” “We fear nothing,” he asserted. “Spain is a free and sovereign country, which makes its decisions sovereignly and in a manner consistent with European values and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations, which respects international law, and which is in solidarity with its European partners and its NATO allies,” he continued. “Why would Spain be subjected to any kind of action or coercion? For being a supportive European partner? For being a reliable NATO ally currently defending the airspace of the Baltic countries? For being a top-tier trading partner for the United States? No, it wouldn't make any sense. It would be a world turned upside down, a world of absolute chaos and disorder,” he added. Aznar On the other hand, former Prime Minister José María Aznar (PP) stated this past Tuesday that “Iran has been exporting terror for 25 years and is a regime that has just murdered 30,000 Iranians who rebelled” against it. “Iran wants to have nuclear weapons to threaten others and control the region. It has a very powerful missile program, capable of reaching Europe,” he asserted. Therefore, he warned, “it is more than justified to try to change a regime that violates international rules and poses a threat to global security.” In this context, Aznar stated, during a conference at the annual Forinvest financial fair held in Valencia, that Spain must support its “security allies,” referring to the United States and Israel, because, “when we suffer serious terrorist attacks, we ask our allies for help.” “Some gave it to us, the United States,” and, therefore, “when they ask for help, we must respond,” he declared. “A country like Spain should stand with its allies and not with its enemies,” he added. In any case, Aznar cautioned that a distinction must be made between the United States and the current Trump administration. “If anyone in Spain has criticized the current president of the United States, it has been me. I don't like populist policies. Trump is a right-wing populist,” he stated. “I don't like Trump, but I also don't like Sánchez or (Santiago) Abascal. I don't like any of the three. I am a liberal conservative,” he asserted.

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