SPAIN PERSPECTIVE

Madrid, July 8, 2026. At the NATO summit in Ankara, Donald Trump not only rekindled his personal feud with Giorgia Meloni, but also put Spain back in the hot seat. "Spain is a total disaster. Spain is terrible, they don't want to pay anything," the US president said, reprising a criticism he first made last year at The Hague summit, where Pedro Sánchez was specifically targeted for his refusal to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, according to El País. A year later, the Spanish assessment has not changed, but the list of those who have "let Trump down" has grown: Italy, the UK, Germany, and France are now accused of abandoning him in his unilateral war against Iran, which he claims to have waged without any logistical support from his European allies.

However, it was the attack on Giorgia Meloni that garnered the most attention from the Spanish press. Even before setting foot on Turkish soil, Trump posted a photo of himself smiling alongside the Italian Prime Minister on Truth Social, accompanied by the comment "needs a restraining order," a direct reference to their dispute born after the G7 in Évian, according to Expansión. The response came from an unexpected quarter in Madrid: Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox, publicly rebuked the US president on Telecinco, judging that "you can't treat an ally like a vassal" and offering his support to Meloni, "a friend" who has "his full respect," according to HuffPost España.

Columnist Carlos Alsina, on Onda Cero, drew up an inventory of leaders irritated by the US president - Macron, Starmer, Scholz, Merz, Tusk, Meloni - before adding Sánchez, portrayed by Trump as wanting US military protection "without paying what they owe" in defense investment, notes El Confidencial. The summit, hosted by Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on July 7 and 8, is taking place under the sign of transatlantic distrust, as Trump also reiterated his claims on Greenland, judging that the Arctic island "should be controlled by the United States, not Denmark".