In his latest spat with a fellow NATO member, U.S. President Donald Trump condemned Spain as a “wasted cause” and “terrible partner” in the alliance. Speaking at the NATO Summit in Ankara, as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte looked on, Trump said he wanted to cut off all trade relations with Spain. While Spanish officials have stressed that relations won’t be affected, it does raise questions about the long-term status of the U.S. military presence in Spain, should the situation deteriorate further.
“We don’t want to do any trade business with Spain anymore… I’d like you to cut it off,” Trump said. “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, please, including visits. Watch them, watch them come running back; oh, they’ll come running back.”
He continued: “We don’t have to trade with them. I don’t want to do any more trade with them… Don’t even talk to them; they’re hopeless, bad people, because you know they have everybody else going and paying and working… They’re open about it, they’re hostile about it, and let’s see how hostile they remain when they call up, and they ‘please, please, we want to trade with you, sir. We want to trade with you, sir.’ They make so much money with us, and we’re going to see that they make a lot less. I want no business with them.”
According to U.S. Congress figures, mutual trade between the two countries was worth $75 billion in 2025, and the United States made $3 billion more from the relationship than Spain.
In an effort to heal the rift, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez later insisted that relations with the United States were “very positive,” and that he had spoken to Trump.
“We talked about the World Cup… there was no tension whatsoever, on the contrary it was all very friendly,” said Sánchez.
The BBC reported that government sources in Madrid said that Spain had no plan to change their “excellent social, cultural, and economic relationship.”
The background to this is Trump’s unhappiness with the Sánchez government refusing the U.S. military permission to use its bases at Morón and Rota in Spain for missions during the war against Iran.
Another point of conflict is Sánchez’s refusal to increase defense spending to five percent of GDP, in line with NATO targets.
This is not Trump’s first threat to cut off trade relations with Spain. The same had happened back in March, in response to Sánchez’s stance on the Iran war.
While there was no change to trade between the two countries after that, were relations between the United States and Spain to worsen, the continued access to Morón and Rota would become a question.
Of the two, Naval Station Rota, in the province of Cádiz, is the most critical. It sits in a strategic position at the mouth of the Mediterranean, which is one of the world’s most important naval control points.
Described by the U.S. Navy as “the gateway to the Mediterranean,” Rota is one of the most strategically important U.S. military hubs in Europe, critical to supporting U.S. and allied naval operations across multiple theaters. The installation is central for Naval Forces Europe-Africa/Central (EURAFCENT) and the U.S. Sixth Fleet.
Located on a 6,100-acre Spanish Navy facility in southern Spain, Rota functions as a major logistical gateway linking North America with Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, and the Middle East.
The base supports the movement of personnel, equipment, fuel, and supplies through its three operational piers, a 670-acre airfield capable of supporting U.S. Navy and Air Force aviation operations, and some of the largest weapons and fuel storage facilities in Europe.
Perhaps the highest-profile resident unit at Rota is Destroyer Squadron 60 (DESRON 60), one of three U.S. Navy destroyer squadrons permanently based outside the continental United States and the only one of these to call Europe home.
In 2024, the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Oscar Austin arrived at Rota, as the first of two additional destroyers to join the Forward Deployed Naval Force-Europe, which will have an eventual total of six. These warships are notably modified with special defenses tailored to the European theater, as you can read about here.
Other key Navy units at Rota include Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron Seven Nine (HSM-79), the “Griffins,” flying the sub-hunting MH-60R Seahawk, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Eight.
Turning to Morón, this airbase is located southeast of the city of Seville in southern Spain. While Naval Station Rota is a springboard for U.S. maritime forces, Morón provides a similar role for the Air Force. Its strategic position means it plays a key role as a forward operating location for air operations, rapid response missions, and contingency support across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
The base’s capabilities include airfield operations, aircraft support, logistics, maintenance, communications, security, and host-nation support, all of which are geared toward rapid deployment and sustainment of U.S. forces when and where they are needed.
Resident U.S. Air Force units at Morón, under the Third Air Force, include the 496th Air Base Squadron, a geographically separated unit (GSU) that comes under the command of the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The 86th Airlift Wing flies C-130J airlifters as well as C-21A and C-37A staff transports.
Morón also serves as a critical node in the transatlantic and transeuropean tanker bridges, making it a key logistical gateway for the massive movements that are critical to buildups in Europe and the Middle East, as well as for more routine transatlantic deployments.
As well as other U.S. Air Force assets that temporarily deploy to Morón, including from the Bomber Task Force, the base also regularly hosts deployments of U.S. Marine Corps aircraft.
Both Morón and Rota operate under the U.S.-Spain Agreement on Defense Cooperation, which allows the United States and Spain to operate alongside one another and share critical infrastructure.
Morón Air Base and Naval Station Rota remain key nodes in the U.S. military’s global posture, providing a strategically positioned bridge between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Their combined capabilities allow U.S. forces to rapidly move, stage, and sustain aircraft, ships, personnel, and equipment across multiple theaters.
A loss of access to Morón and Rota would extend far beyond a bilateral dispute between Washington and Madrid. While the United States could maintain operations through other European and regional locations, replacing the unique combination of air, maritime, and logistical capabilities provided by the two installations would take time and impose additional strain on U.S. forces. Loss of access to these bases, especially Rota, could be one of Spain’s most powerful cards to play if Trump’s rhetoric turns into action.
More importantly, any decision by a NATO member to restrict access to critical allied infrastructure would have broader implications for the alliance, raising questions about the reliability of defense commitments and the political cohesion that underpins collective security.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com