How Spain is standing up to Trump on defense and China

Spain’s a little unique approach to defense and foreign policy is to fuel tensions with the Trump administration.

Recently Spanish government abandoned The United States buys aircraft and resisted NATO’s new 5% defense spending target to commit intense pressure Closer economic ties With China.

Together, analysts say that Spain has become a rare example of a European country that wants to draw the anger of US President Donald Trump.

In particular, although Trump threatened a challenging trade agreement for Spain, the Southern European country has not yet achieved a significant result.

“Spain is an interesting situation in Europe, because the only country that clearly antagonizes Trump is often trying to keep their heads down,” Federico Santi said, a senior analyst focusing on Southern Europe in the Eurasian Group.

Santi, which is special for Spain, said the country’s minority leftist coalition government is “different weakness”. mixed In a series of scandal and corruption investigation.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has been leading the country since 2018, called on the opposition deputies to resign. The leader of the Spanish Socialist Labor Party said that instead of re -election in 2027, he said.

Avrasia Group’s opportunity to focus on foreign policy issues such as Santi, Defense, said Sanchez could help the people away from their internal problems.

“Spain has moved away from Trump’s very clear Criticism for two main reasons. First, in the EU. South AfricaSanti is a little protected of the world or Brazil, which is very directly reacted than Trump.

“And I think according to Sanchez’s advantages, Trump is that Spain is worried or not aware as a country. So, he is aware, but not really on his radar.”

The Spanish government spokesman CNBC did not respond to the request for comment.

The Spanish Ministry of Defense said last week that the US-made F-35s did not think of purchasing the option to purchase. Reuters reportedInstead, he prefers to replace the aging fighter aircraft fleet with European military planes.

SNUB DECISION Lockheed MartinTrump said that Madrid was “terrible” that 5% of the gross domestic product will not depend on the NATO defense expenditure target until 2035.

Speaking at a press conference at the annual summit of NATO in late June, Trump said that the Spanish economy could “come out of the water with something bad.”

The President of the United States also threatened to pay for “twice more” in the trade of Spain and criticized Madrid because he wanted to make a “a little free journey”.

However, since then, the US and the EU have signed a framework trade agreement, which means that the 27 -national block would face tariffs in EU goods, it is negotiating the EU’s trade agreements collectively, ie Spain’s benefits of collective bargaining by Brussels.

In Stark contrast, Switzerland, which is not a member of EU, was harshly shot with a US tariff rate of 39% in key export products.

Ignacio Molina, a senior member of the Royal Institute of Elcano, a thought -tank in Madrid, said that Spain’s geographical distance from Russia and its foreign policy, which dates back to the US in 1898 against the US in 1898, said that Madrid’s relationship with Washington as “less vital” from other EU countries.

Molina said in a statement to CNBC via e-mail, “the dominant political culture in Spain is much more pro-European than the Atlanticist. Even in relation to Ukraine (Spanish supporting Spain), the main focus of Spain is not in NATO membership or arms deliveries, but the purchase of refugees.”

Molina emphasized that Spanish-US relations are even more complex with the fact that the Spanish government is “the most ideologically left-tended” in Europe.

“This brings an internal political attraction to get away from Trump, which is not very popular in Spain, including central -right voters,” Molina said. He said.

Both the US and the EU officials have recently criticized Sanchez’s decision. Million-Euro Contract For the use of telephone technology to China Technology Giant Huawei.

Kristina Kausch, a senior member of the US Marshall Fund and representative of Thinking Office in Madrid, said Spain’s deepening ties with China raised its eyebrows in some parts of the United States and Europe.

“This reflects a wider desire for strategic reconstruction in Europe, while EU leaders stressed that such a reciprocity should be of reciprocity,” Kausch said. He said.

Kausch, CNBC’ye defense of pressure on the purchase of prints, Spain’s European military capabilities and industrial capacity independently showed the determination to improve, he said.

However, even with the scope of EU membership, Kausch said that the approach could be risk -free.

“Spain sounds more or less shared by other EU or NATO allies. It shows leadership, but at the same time a great gambling to Sanchez personally, in Spain and Europe.”

– CNBCs Charlotte Reed He contributed to this report.