​ Spain’s Pedro Sánchez hits back at Trump threat to sever trade saying ‘no to war’. 5 hours ago. Guy Hedgecoe,in Madrid,and. Paul Kirby,Europe digital editor. La Moncloa Handout. Pedro Sánchez has delivered a strong rebuttal to US President Donald Trump’s threat to end trade with Spain by restating his opposition to war and what he called the “breakdown of international law”.. In a 10-minute televised address, the Spanish prime minister reflected on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as the Iraq War more than 20 years ago, and said the Spanish government’s position could be summed up as “no to war”.. Trump threatened to impose a full trade embargo on Spain in response to its refusal to allow the US to use the jointly run bases at Morón and Rotafor to strike Iran.. “Spain has been terrible,” Trump said during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday.. “We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he added.. Merz said later he had told Trump very clearly that he could not conclude a separate trade agreement with Germany or all of Europe but not with Spain.. In response to the US economic threat, the Élysée Palace said French President Emmanuel Macron had conveyed his “solidarity” with Spain during a phone conversation with Sánchez on Wednesday. European Council President António Costa also said he had spoken to the Spanish leader “to express the EU’s full solidarity”.. Trump accused Spain on Tuesday of being a “terrible partner” in Nato for failing to increase its defence budget in line with a target of 5% of economic output (GDP).. Earlier this year, Sánchez drew Trump’s ire by speaking out against the US military incursion into Venezuela.. Sánchez said in his televised address from the prime minister’s official residence in Madrid on Wednesday that the government was studying economic measures to counter the impact of the conflict on Spaniards, though he avoided directly referring to Trump’s trade threat.. “The question is not if we are on the side of the ayatollahs [Iran’s clerical rulers] – nobody is. The question is whether we are in favour of peace and international legality,” he said.. “You cannot answer one illegality with another, because that is how the great catastrophes of humanity begin.”. Spain’s Socialist prime minister explained that the government’s position was comparable to its stance on Ukraine and Gaza. Sánchez has been a vociferous critic of Israel’s military response to the Hamas attacks in 2023.. Spain has been among Europe’s most outspoken governments on Gaza, describing Israel’s actions there as “genocide” and acknowledging a Palestinian state before many other EU members did.. That position was in step with his coalition partners to his left and, broadly speaking, with Spanish attitudes toward the Middle East.. Looking back to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, which he said had failed to achieve its goals and had made life worse for ordinary people, he wa