For months, Pedro Sánchez, the progressive prime minister of Spain, has walked a tightrope when it comes to dealing with President Trump. He stood up to Mr. Trump on issues important to the American president, solidifying the support of left-leaning members of his fragile governing coalition, but without going so far as to trigger any real retribution.
That may be changing. Mr. Trump has seemingly stewed for weeks over Spain’s refusal, alone among NATO partners, to increase military spending to 5 percent of GDP, as he demanded. Last week, he called Spain a “laggard” and suggested that partners “throw them out of NATO.” Then on Monday, he urged European leaders to get “working” on Spain, and on Tuesday, he added his own pressure, threatening to single out the country for higher tariffs than the rest of the E.U.
“I’m very unhappy with Spain,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “I was thinking of giving them trade punishment through tariffs because of what they did, and I think I may do that.”
The threat puts Mr. Sánchez, a consummate political survivor, in a tight spot. Spain’s military spending is only 1.3 percent, less than all other NATO members. Mr. Sánchez has said he would raise it to 2 percent by the end of 2025 in line with an earlier commitment, a position that left-wing partners critical to his government’s survival could live with and that added to his aura as the European progressive willing to stand up to the United States.
Mr. Sánchez has depicted Spain as a liberal mirror to Trump’s America. He has framed its welcoming of immigrants as an economy-boosting alternative to the U.S. crackdowns, taken a leading role in Europe in criticizing Israel over the Gaza war, and broken with other European members of NATO by arguing that Russia didn’t pose an immediate threat to Spain. His government contends that the higher proposed military spending demanded by Mr. Trump was instead needed for social welfare programs.
But if Mr. Trump seeks to make good on his tariff threat, Mr. Sánchez might have to deal with the economic fallout of a miscalculation. For now though, his government was holding the line, noting its fulfillment of obligations with troop deployments elsewhere in Europe.
“We are committed to the defense, to the security of NATO and, at the same time, we are equally committed to the defense of our welfare state,” Mr. Sánchez told Cadena SER radio network after Mr. Trump’s tariff threat. He added that Spain was already doing “more than enough.”
Jason Horowitz is the Rome bureau chief for The Times, covering Italy, the Vatican, Greece and other parts of Southern Europe.
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