USA

These products could be impacted if Trump ends trade with Spain

President Trump said Wednesday that the United States will cut trade with Spain, a move that if carried out would affect billions of dollars in goods across many sectors.

“Spain is a lost cause. By the way, we don’t want to do any business with Spain anymore,” Trump said alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the alliance’s summit in Ankara, Türkiye. he said.

The President then told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was in the room, “I have no interest in Spain. Please cease all trade with Spain, including visits.”

The Trump administration’s imposition of an embargo banning American companies from doing business with their Spanish counterparts will affect transactions with one of the country’s 25 largest trading partners.

The top products exported by the United States to Spain in April were crude oil and petroleum gas, as well as vaccines, blood, antiserum, toxins and cultures. Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC). The platform added that oil gas exports from the USA to Spain decreased by 59.6 percent in April compared to the previous year.

In May, the United States exported more than $2.2 billion in goods to Spain and imported more than $1.8 billion in goods from the European country. Data from the US Census Bureau.

This excess reflects trends since the beginning of 2022; because the United States has sold more goods to Spain than it has purchased in each of the last four years. But every year from 2012 to 2021, the United States bought more goods than it sold, running a trade deficit with Spain.

More than $1.8 billion in goods imported by Spanish businesses from the United States in May made Spain the 24th-largest importer of American goods that month, according to a report from the Census Bureau and the Census Bureau released Tuesday. US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

Spain also ranked as the 22nd largest buyer of U.S. goods that month, roughly in line with its ranking for all of 2025 (No. 23), according to data from the Census Bureau and BEA.

The OEC noted that the biggest imports from Spain in the same month were paintings, electrical transformers and packaged medicines.

Spain’s direct investment in the USA exceeded $87.4 billion It will be the ninth highest foreign investor among European countries in 2024, according to BEA. Meanwhile, direct US investment in Spain Less than $33.9 billion that year.

As for whether Trump could impose an embargo on Spain? International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) It allows him to do so if he declares a national emergency regarding Spain. In the past, US presidents have declared national emergencies to impose embargoes on countries such as Cuba and North Korea.

Trump previously invoked IEEPA to enact sweeping “Emancipation Day” tariffs last year. However, the Supreme Court abolished these taxes in February, ruling that the use of the law was unlawful.

One dissenting opinion Commenting on the high court’s decision, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that IEEPA gives the president the authority to impose embargoes on other countries.

“Plaintiffs and the Court recognize that IEEPA gives the President the authority to impose quotas or embargoes on foreign imports, meaning that a President can completely block some or all imports,” Kavanaugh wrote. he wrote.

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