Trump Threatens to Cut All Trade With Spain, Slams UK

COLOMBO (News 1st); US President Donald Trump has sharply criticized Spain and the United Kingdom, announcing that he has instructed officials to cut off all dealings with Spain and expressing dissatisfaction with the UK over access to a leased island, Chagos Islands.

Trump said that while some European nations have been supportive, others have not. He specifically praised Germany, stating, 'Germany’s been great. He’s been terrific,' and commended the head of NATO, calling him 'fantastic.'

However, the President accused Spain of refusing to cooperate on NATO-related payment increases. 'Every European nation, at my request, paid 5%… and everybody was enthusiastic about it… and Spain didn’t do it,' he said. He added that Spain had recently informed the United States that American forces could not use Spanish bases.

'That’s all right. We can use their bases if we want. We can just fly in and use. Nobody’s going to tell us not to use it,' Trump remarked, while still characterizing Spain as 'unfriendly.'

He went on to say, 'Spain has absolutely nothing that we need, other than great people. They have great people but they don’t have great leadership.' Trump claimed Spain was the only NATO member refusing to increase its contribution and said, 'We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.'

Turning his criticism toward the United Kingdom, Trump said he was 'not happy' with the UK regarding an island connected to a lease arrangement. 'For whatever reason, he made a lease of the island. Somebody came and took it away from him and it’s taken three, four days for us to work out where we can land there,' he said, noting that this delay resulted in longer flight times.

'It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours,' Trump continued. He concluded his criticism by saying, 'This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.'