President Donald Trump threw a summit of NATO leaders into disarray on Wednesday as he demanded the United States cut trade ties with Spain and made renewed claims on Greenland, but later changed tack and said there had been love and “a lot of unity”.
Speaking in the Turkish capital Ankara, Trump called Madrid a “terrible partner” in NATO as he railed against allies for not supporting the war on Iran and ordered Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to halt all trade with Spain.
His remarks — also declaring the fragile ceasefire with Iran to be over — overshadowed a summit that European leaders had hoped would look past a series of rows that have threatened to tear the military alliance apart.
“Spain is a wasted cause. We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore,” Trump said. “By the way, I’d like to cut it off. Spain is a terrible partner in NATO. They don’t participate, they don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut off all trade with Spain, including visits.”
Trump spoke alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who has assiduously tried to assuage his concerns over defence spending, Iran and Greenland, while lavishing praise on the president for bringing such issues to the fore.
But emerging from a closed-door meeting of NATO leaders, Trump later said: “There was a lot of love in that room, a lot of unity.” He also spoke more warmly of Volodymyr Zelenskiy when he met the Ukrainian president, in stark contrast to the tongue-lashing he gave him at a White House meeting last year.
In a potential boost to Ukraine, Trump said he would give Kyiv a licence to make Patriot missiles at a time when Russia has stepped up its air war on cities with deadly strikes, exploiting Ukraine’s shortage of air defences.
A source familiar with the NATO talks said Trump had not repeated his criticisms behind closed doors and instead wanted to keep the U.S. in NATO, saying “we want to remain with you”.
French President Emmanuel Macron also said he did not hear any gripes from Trump, while Rutte said the alliance was “more together than ever”.
QUARRELS MAKE YOU STRONGER, RUTTE SAYS
On paper at least, the summit ended with a message of solidarity, with NATO allies including Trump affirming their “ironclad commitment” to collective defence under the alliance’s Article 5 pact in a summit declaration.
NATO members also pledged €70 billion ($80 billion) in military assistance to Ukraine for 2026.
“I would say to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, you should have some more discussions yourself out in the open. That makes you stronger,” Rutte told Reuters in an interview.
“What he has seen now is sometimes allies disagreeing a bit, having a bit of a quarrel, and then coming together and reuniting.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who won plaudits from Trump throughout the two-day summit, said Ankara was ready to assume greater responsibility for burden-sharing within NATO. He said the summit had laid the foundations for a stronger alliance.
Trump’s earlier public remarks had undercut the carefully crafted pre-summit messaging that European NATO countries had increased military spending, which saw at least $50 billion in defence initiatives unveiled on Tuesday.
SPAIN SAYS IT WON’T BE BULLIED
Washington and Madrid have been at odds, with Spain explicitly rejecting Trump’s demands for European countries to sharply boost military spending and pay for their own defence. Spain’s Socialist leadership has also refused to let the U.S. use its airspace or bases on its territory for the Iran war.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez later said he had a “very cordial” conversation with Trump in which the pair discussed the soccer World Cup, which the U.S. is hosting, and golf, but not military spending.
Sanchez’s health minister, Monica Garcia, was more blunt.
“We are a sovereign, democratic country that defends multilateralism and peace,” she said on X. “What’s terrible is confusing diplomacy with bullying.”
TRUMP CALLS IRAN ‘SICK PEOPLE’
The U.S. has unleashed new military strikes on Iran and revoked a licence allowing Iran to sell oil in response to attacks on three tankers. It was the latest blow to a fragile ceasefire agreement in a war that is deeply unpopular in Europe.
“To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them,” Trump said when asked whether the interim accord with Iran was over. “They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people.”
Trump also demanded that his country control Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, reviving an issue that has put severe strain on the alliance that has underpinned Western security since the start of the Cold War.
