Spain tells of ‘surprise’ at Merz’s White House comments over Trump’s trade threats – Europe live

The Guardian World

by Jakub Krupa

March 4, 2026

Spanish foreign minister says ‘I can’t imagine Merkel or Scholz making statements like that’ after German chancellor appears to support US president in Madrid Sánchez’s defiant speech may have been made in response to Trump’s threat to cut off all trade with Spain, but his words were also aimed every bit as much at other EU leaders (and at Spain’s political class). “A war that, in theory, was said to be waged to eliminate Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, bring democracy, and guarantee global security, but which, in reality, seen in retrospect, produced the opposite effect. It unleashed the greatest wave of insecurity our continent has suffered since the fall of the Berlin Wall.” “It is absolutely unacceptable that those leaders who are incapable of fulfilling this duty use the smokescreen of war to hide their failure and, in the process, line the pockets of a select few – the same ones as always; the only ones who profit when the world stops building hospitals and starts building missiles.” “The government of Spain stands with those it must stand with. It stands with the values that our parents and grandparents enshrined in our constitution. Spain stands with the founding principles of the European Union. It stands with the Charter of the United Nations. It stands with international law and, therefore, stands with peace and peaceful coexistence between countries and their harmonious coexistence. Continue reading...

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Originally published on The Guardian World on 3/4/2026