EUROPEAN leaders have rallied behind prime minister Pedro Sanchez after Donald Trump threatened to cut off all trade with Spain amid rising tensions over the war in Iran.
In a post on X, Sanchez thanked top EU officials Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, as well as French president Emmanuel Macron, for their ‘calls and messages of support’ on Wednesday.
It came amid an all-time peak in US-Spain tensions after Sanchez said he would not allow American forces to use the military bases at Rota and Moron, in Andalucia, for strikes on Iran.
“NO TO WAR. Yes to trade, cooperation and prosperity,” Sanchez said.
While Sanchez did not specify what he discussed with his European counterparts, the EU leaders were only some of several international officials to close ranks around the Spanish PM after Trump issued his threats on Tuesday.
In an interview with La Vanguardia, EU trade spokesperson Olof Gill emphasised that Washington has concluded trade agreements with the entire European bloc – including Spain.
Gill added he hoped Trump would ‘honour the [trade] agreements’ struck with the EU bloc in July, which set tariffs at a flat 15% across the union.
“The Commission will always ensure the EU’s interests are protected,” he said.
Josep Borrell, the European Commission’s former vice president, joined other officials in commending Spain on the decision to block use of its bases, adding it was ‘an affirmation of the principles upon which the EU is built and of national sovereignty.’
“All my support to the Government of Spain in its condemnation of the US, Israel for violating International law, and for not authorizing the use of the joint Spanish-US military bases,” he wrote on X.
READ MORE: BREAKING: Trump to stop all trade with Spain over Iran war
The position was even echoed by Mao Ning, chief spokeswoman for China’s Foreign Ministry, who told reporters on Wednesday that ‘trade cannot be used as a weapon.’
Trump first announced he wanted to stop all trade with Spain during a White House pool spray with German chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“Spain actually said that we can’t use their bases, and that’s alright, we don’t want to, we can use their base if we want, we can just fly in and use it,” Trump said.
“Nobody’s gonna tell us not to use it, but we don’t have to, but they were unfriendly and so I told them Spain has absolutely nothing that we need, other than great people, they have great people, but they don’t have great leadership,” he added.
“So we’re gonna cut off all trade with Spain, we don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
READ MORE: Expect petrol prices at the pump to go up as the war in Iran pushes crude up 10% in just one morning
After the pool spray, speaking to German reporters before returning to Berlin, Merz said he told Trump there was ‘no way [he could] treat Spain especially badly.’
“I told him that Spain is part of the European Union,” Merz said. “When we negotiate an agreement on tariffs with the United States, we do it together or not at all.”
In a televised address on Wednesday morning, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also responded firmly to Trump’s threats.
“The position of the government of Spain in the face of this situation is clear and consistent, the same one we have maintained in Ukraine and Gaza,” Sanchez said.
“No to the collapse of an international law that protects us all, especially civilians. No to assuming that the world can only solve its problems through bombs. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past. No to war.”
The Spanish premier also insisted that Spain was not alone, even though it has positioned itself the furthest away from the US of any European Union country.
He said: “We are not alone. The government stands where it must stand, with the values of the Constitution, of the EU, with the UN Charter, with peace. Millions of people around the world stand with peace and prosperity.
“No one is in favour of the ayatollahs. But the question is whether we stand on the side of international legality and peace. We repudiate the regime in Tehran, but we call for a diplomatic solution.”
The collapse in diplomatic relations came after US military planes were forced to leave Andalucia over the weekend, following the Spanish government’s decision to block the use of its bases for strikes on Iran.
Flight tracking websites showed fifteen US aircraft departing Rota and Moron in southern Spain after foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said that the bases could not be used for ongoing military operations in the Middle East.
Rota and Moron, in Cadiz and Sevilla respectively, are jointly operated with the US, but fall under Spain’s sovereignty.
The development came after senior officials, including Albares and prime minister Sanchez, decried the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which have led to the death of the supreme leader, as ‘unjustified’ and ‘dangerous’.
Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Sunday, Sanchez called for an ‘immediate de-escalation’ after branding the attack ‘unilateral’ and ‘against international law’.
“It is possible to be against a hateful regime, as Spanish society as a whole is against the Iranian regime, and at the same time be against an unjustified, dangerous military intervention that is outside international law,” Sanchez said.
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