U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a bilateral meeting at the Beshtepe presidential palace during the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey on July 8, 2026 (not shown).
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Americans may not need to start panic buying Iberico ham just yet.
President Donald Trump may not carry out a U.S. demand to completely cut off trade with Spain, but he could use the same law behind the failed “reciprocal” tariffs to do so if he wanted, U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer said Thursday.
Gurría told reporters at the White House that President Trump could use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to single out Spain, even though Spain is a member of the European Union.
The law authorizes the president to impose certain economic sanctions in response to a declared national emergency. President Trump had argued that the law allows him to impose individual tariffs on nearly every country, but the Supreme Court struck down those import duties in February.
“We’ve all heard of the famous IEEPA in connection with our country’s tariffs last year, but the truth is that the IEEPA has been around for decades,” Greer said Thursday.
“This is an authority that is currently being used to restrict trade with countries like North Korea,” Greer explained.
He said that even though the Supreme Court ruled that IEEPA did not uphold President Trump’s tariffs, the decision “highlighted that IEEPA clearly says that trade can be prohibited, that you can do certain things.”
But trade officials stressed that while it is “certainly possible” for President Trump to take that step, he may no longer want to do so.
Gurría said Trump and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez recently had a “good meeting” to discuss “core issues regarding payments.”
“With respect to Spain, we have heard that there have been positive developments on this front,” he said.
This would be a big change from just the day before, when President Trump suddenly declared he was done with Spain in any way, clearly angered by Spain’s resistance to increased defense spending as a member of NATO.
“Spain is a terrible partner for NATO. Spain won’t participate, they won’t pay, and we don’t want anything to do with Spain,” President Trump said during a media appearance at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, Spain’s top exports to the United States include refined petroleum, pharmaceuticals and transformers.
“Please stop all trade with Spain, including visits,” Trump said, sitting next to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
President Trump has called on all NATO allies to raise defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product to more equitably spread the alliance’s costs. Most member states agree to higher spending targets, but Spain rejects the NATO proposal as “irrational.”
Trump himself softened his attitude toward Spain after leaving Turkey.
“I had problems and I still have problems, but Spain came all the way back today. Spain was very generous today,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his way back to the United States.
Asked what Spain had done to get back in the good graces, Trump paused for a moment before saying the country had “honored the request for a large payment.”
It is unclear what exactly Spain agreed to. The Spanish embassy in the United States did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Trump and Greer’s comments.
This is not the first time this year that Trump and Sanchez have clashed. Mr. Sanchez criticized the airstrikes in March after the United States launched a war against Iran, and Mr. Trump also threatened to halt trade at the time.
Asked Thursday whether President Trump was no longer seeking a Spanish trade divorce in light of his meeting with Sanchez, Mr. Gurría said: “I don’t want to get ahead of him… but it seemed very positive.”
Asked for clarity, Gurría said Trump “has a lot of options” and noted that the president has previously expressed his opinion on Spain’s spending.
Greer added that he has been in contact with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who traveled to Turkey with the president.
“I don’t think there’s anything imminent” about suspending trade with Spain, Gurría said.
