The President of the United States, Donald Trump, harshly criticized Spain again by calling it a "ruined country" in an interview given to the British channel GB News.
The statements, gathered by the EFE agency, represent the latest verbal escalation from the Republican leader against the government of Pedro Sánchez this year.
"Spain will be a ruined country. I have issues with Spain because it is not behaving very well regarding NATO and is not paying what it should be paying," Trump stated in the interview.
The leader described the situation as "terrible" because, as he argued, the other allies of the Atlantic Alliance agreed to increase their military spending while Spain "says: 'I won't pay'."
Spain reached 2% of GDP in defense spending in 2025, but Trump demands that allies allocate 5%, and he has repeatedly pointed to Sánchez's government as the most unruly in the Alliance.
In the same interview, Trump referred to the social and political crisis that has overwhelmed the city of Ceuta since July 30, when more than 70,000 people irregularly crossed from Morocco to the Spanish enclave, in what is considered the worst illegal migration surge in the area in recent years.
"What is happening there is very sad to see (...) Thousands of people pouring en masse into their country. I've never seen anything like it," the leader stated.
The crisis in Ceuta resulted in over 70 fatalities according to subsequent journalistic counts, and had repercussions throughout Europe: three countries in the European Union called for Spain's expulsion from the Schengen area following the overflow at the border, and Italy even went so far as to declare the temporary suspension of the agreement.
Following the outbreak of that crisis, the U.S. State Department accused Sánchez's government of "facilitating and promoting mass illegal migration to Europe," describing what had occurred as a "direct result of the Spanish government's deliberate efforts."
The relationship between Washington and Madrid has experienced tensions since the beginning of Trump's second term. The most significant trigger was Spain's refusal to allow the use of the military bases in Rota and Morón for Operation Epic Fury, the offensive launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran in February 2026, which Spain termed "illegal."
At the NATO summit held in Ankara in July, Trump referred to Spain as a "lost cause" and verbally instructed his Treasury Secretary to cut all bilateral trade, an exchange amounting to about 46 billion dollars annually.
Trump has turned the images of Ceuta into the central visual argument of his campaign for the legislative elections on November 3, warning that something similar will happen in the U.S. if the Democrats regain power.
"It's awful. Remember that image. That will happen to us in three years if the wrong side comes to power," declared the Republican leader from Camp David at the end of July.
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