Trump Lashes Out at Spain: ‘Cut Off All Trade.’ Here’s Why That’s Unlikely.

President Trump, venting his longstanding animus toward Europe at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, singled out Spain with particular spleen on Wednesday.

“I don’t want anything to do with Spain,” he said of the European Union’s fourth-largest economy. “Cut off all trade with Spain, please, including visits.”

“They’re hopeless, bad people,” he added.

Whether Mr. Trump has the desire or the power to follow through on his threat to treat a European ally as a pariah on a par with North Korea remains to be seen. He has often tried to bully other states — including China, Iran, Greenland and Oman — only to back down.

Because Spain is part of the European Union, its foreign trade is governed by the bloc’s deals. The most recent agreement was completed just a few weeks ago — although Mr. Trump has already threatened to violate it by posting on social media that he would impose a 100 percent tariff on countries that levied a digital services tax.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain shrugged off the threat Wednesday afternoon. “Commercial relations are woven between companies, not between governments,” he said.

Olof Gill, a spokesperson for the European Commission, pushed back on behalf of Spain, saying: “We expect the U.S. to honor its commitments under that joint statement, as we have honored ours.”