The US ambassador asserts that Trump’s “frustration” stems from Spain’s commitment to 5% of GDP, which it then failed to uphold

Eduardo González The United States ambassador to Spain, Benjamin León, Jr., asserted this Wednesday that President Donald Trump's "frustration" with Spain is due to the fact that Pedro Sánchez's government, along with the other NATO members, had "committed" to increasing its defense spending to five percent of GDP, but then was the "only" country that decided "not to fulfill what it said it would do." "President Trump's frustration is that, in 2025 in The Hague, in June I understand, NATO met and one hundred percent of NATO members, including Spain, committed, understanding the world we live in today, to increasing defense spending from two percent to five percent of GDP," the ambassador stated during his remarks at a breakfast briefing in Madrid organized by New Economy Forum, his first public appearance since assuming his post last February. "President Trump's frustration is that, in 2025 in The Hague, in June I understand, NATO met and one hundred percent of NATO members, including Spain, committed, understanding the world we live in today, to increasing defense spending from two percent to five percent of GDP," the ambassador affirmed during his remarks at a breakfast briefing in Madrid organized by Nueva Economía Fórum, his first public appearance since taking office last February. “Spain is the only government that has said it will not fulfill what it said it would do at that meeting, and that is what frustrates President Trump,” he continued. “Let’s not talk about subsequent events that further fueled that frustration; we all know them,” he added, referring to Spain’s veto of the use of the joint Rota and Morón air bases for the US offensive against Iran. At the Hague Summit, held at the end of June 2025, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez distanced himself from the commitment made by the other allies (outlined in the final declaration) to invest five percent of annual GDP in defense by 2035. However, he had repeatedly warned, well before the start of the meeting, that he would not accept an increase in defense spending beyond the two percent agreed upon at the 2014 Wales Summit. In fact, Sánchez himself had clearly communicated this to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in a letter days before the Summit. Regarding Rota and Morón, the US ambassador asserted that the two bases are “fundamental to our shared defense” and noted that nearly 7,000 US military personnel and their families live at these facilities. However, when asked whether the United States might withdraw all or part of its troops from these bases in retaliation for the Spanish veto, Benjamín León simply clarified that “the commander-in-chief of the U.S. military” is Trump, and therefore the president is the “only person” who can answer that question. In any case, the ambassador insisted that the United States and Spain maintain a “deep” relationship that dates back “250 years” and that Washington has “nothing against the Spanish people.” “It’s against the government, and I think they’re right,” he added. Regarding the possibility of a future trip by Trump to Spain, the ambassador simply replied that, “if the president (Sánchez) hasn’t received me, I don’t think he’s inviting the president.” China, Venezuela, Cuba Regarding other international issues, Benjamín León Jr. warned that Spain has the right to “negotiate” with China, “but not naively.” “Spain must be very careful to keep China out of its critical areas, because I see that it is beginning to penetrate those areas, and that is indeed dangerous,” he stated. He also asserted that “the United States is being cautious and proceeding step by step with the complete and total democratization of Venezuela,” and warned, regarding Cuba (his country of origin), that “it would be inhumane not to do everything possible to liberate that people” and that “everything possible” is being done to end the Castro regime “precisely” to avoid a military intervention. In any case, he specified, “the United States has an aircraft carrier off the coast of Cuba right now.”

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