Experts say Trump can't legally cut trade with Spain as President issues threat to Prime Minister
The POTUS' attempts to strong-arm trade might not be as successful as he thought
As things continue to escalate, President Donald Trump is seemingly going all-in when it comes to war in Iran. It comes as the President of the United States is accused of pulling as many global powers into the chaos as he possibly can, whether they like it or not.
Operation Epic Fury saw the United States and Israel join forces to bomb Iran, eliminating the nation's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the process, with air strikes hitting several key military bases.
In rejecting peace negotiations, however, Iran sought escalation of its own and started bombing air bases and areas of interest operated by the US and Israel in neighboring countries. This potentially leaves people in areas like the United Arab Emirates stranded.
Iran has also closed off the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world's most strategically important trading routes – in a move that could have a catastrophic impact on the global economy, especially surrounding oil prices.
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Some have speculated that the United States government didn't expect it to escalate this quickly, despite the frightening statements made by military commanders about the conflict, and it appears as if Donald Trump is scrambling to earn as much help as he can get.
President Trump has already managed to get the UK government on his side, perhaps reluctantly following his derogatory comments towards Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and that resulted in an RAF air base in Cyprus becoming the target of Iranian air strikes.
Understandably, Spain doesn't want that fate for itself and has rejected demands from America to use its air bases to support military operations, leading to extreme sanctions.
As a consequence of its refusal to cooperate, President Trump has declared that the United States will no longer have any form of trade with Spain, severing a significant economic relationship presumably until he gets what he wants.
Trump might not be as successful in this action as he'd hoped, as European Commission Vice President Teresa Ribera has disputed the legitimacy of this sanction in relation to the European Union (EU) as a whole, as reported by Politico.
According to Ribera, the EU's foreign trade has to intrinsically be orchestrated and negotiated as a bloc, and singling out Spain would impact every nation that plays a part in the strong alliance.
"It's not possible to engage in [individual] commercial retaliation or business relationships," Ribera explained when speaking to Spanish radio network Cadena Ser.
"The trade negotiations of each and every one of the 27 member states of the European Union are the responsibility of the Commission and it is not possible to divide or fragment them."
Ribera also added that attempts from the US government to cut off individual EU nations are "profoundly disturbing, not only for societies, for peace, for cooperation, but also for the economy, and has immediate consequences in everyone's economic activity as a whole."
She even downplayed the seriousness of the threat, adding that the Trump administration 'knows' how trade with the EU is handled and "is not interested in breaking trade relations."