President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States will halt all trade with Spain, lashing out after Barcelona barred Washington from using Spanish bases for strikes on Iran, a claim Madrid insists is based on a false premise.
"We're going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don't want anything to do with Spain," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he hosted German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. "Spain has been terrible," he said.
It remains unclear what power Trump would have to "end" trade with Spain, after the Supreme Court struck down his use of emergency powers to impose arbitrary tariffs.
Musing on the legalities, the 79-year-old property tycoon turned president said, "I could tomorrow stop or today, even better – stop everything having to do with Spain, all business."
"I have the right to... do anything I want with it," he said.
