President Donald Trump said on ‌Wednesday at a NATO summit he had ordered his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to cut off all trade with Spain, calling Madrid a "terrible partner" in the alliance.

Trump, speaking alongside NATO ‌Secretary General Mark Rutte at the start of ​the summit in Ankara, said he wanted no business with Spain. Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration ⁠with Spain, which has not agreed to NATO's new ​defense spending target of 5% of GDP and whose Socialist ⁠leadership refused to let the U.S. use its airspace or bases on its territory for the Iran war.

"Spain doesn't agree ‌to anything, and you shouldn't carry them," Trump ​told Rutte. "I don't ‌want to do any trade with them, alright?" he said, turning to ‌Bessent, who replied: "Yes, sir."

"Take it immediately, Don't even talk to them. They're hopeless. They're bad people," he added. "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."

The United States has two important military bases in Spain: Naval ‌Station Rota and Moron Air Base.

An internal Pentagon email outlined options for the United States to punish NATO allies ‌it believes ​failed to support ‌U.S. operations in the war with Iran, including suspending Spain from the alliance, a U.S. official told ​Reuters in April.