Spain defends its rejection of Trump’s ‘law of the jungle’ approach to foreign policy

Spain’s outspoken criticism of the US-Israeli war on Iran has achieved a rare double for the country’s traditionally low-key foreign policy: it has both infuriated Donald Trump and irritated Spain’s more cautious European allies.In the eyes of his critics, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez is guilty of grandstanding abroad to distract attention from mounting corruption woes and political paralysis at home. But his chief diplomat insists Spain is simply sticking to its internationalist principles while others forget theirs.In an interview with the Financial Times, José Manuel Albares, Spain’s foreign minister, brushed off White House anger at Madrid’s criticism of Trump and its refusal to let the US use bases in Spain to attack Iran. Albares also rejected private complaints in other European capitals that Spain’s bare-knuckles approach is undermining Nato unity and efforts to manage Trump.According to Albares, the fundamental rupture in the world order is between a view grounded in international law, state sovereignty and the UN Charter on the one hand, and “the law of the jungle” on the other – meaning “chaos, violence and war as a substitute for foreign policy”.“That’s the real choice,” he said. He rejected suggestions Spain had become an outlier on foreign policy in Europe and rather described it as a “leading voice” for the rules-based international order.Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares. Photograph: Olivier Matthys/EPA Spain has traditionally been a dutiful EU member with little clout outside its old sphere of influence in Latin America.When Sánchez came to power in 2018, the country was still shaking off the shame of narrowly avoiding the need for a bailout during the Eurozone crisis. But in the past three years the economy has strengthened and Spain, starting with Sánchez’s strident criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza, has assumed its most prominent position in global affairs in more than two decades.In 2003 Sánchez’s conservative predecessor José María Aznar broke ranks with France and Germany and joined the then UK prime minister Tony Blair in backing the US-led invasion of Iraq.This year, Sánchez became the first European leader to declare that the US-Israeli war on Iran was “illegal”, comparing it to the Iraq War, which he said had yielded only a rise in jihadist terrorism, a migration crisis and a spike in energy costs.Asked whether Spain would participate in a Nato mission to secure the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a putative US-Iran deal failing, Albares said: “We will not take part in any action that could mean an escalation. And above all, we think that there is no military solution for this crisis.”Spain’s stance is consistent with a series of moves by Sánchez – a self-declared pacifist – that have outraged the Trump administration. At the start of the Iran war, Madrid refused to let the US use two jointly operated military bases in Spain to attack Iran, a decision that complicated the US operation, including its refuelling options.Spain had been “atrocious, just horrifying”, Marco Rubio, US secretary of state, said last month. “There are some very legitimate questions to ask about Nato,” he said. “What is the purpose of being in an alliance whose benefit to us is these basing rights if, in a time of conflict like the one we’ve had with Iran, they can deny us the use of those bases?”When Sánchez became the spoiler at a Nato summit last June, rejecting a new US-inspired target to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence, Trump called Spain “horrible” and accused it of freeloading.The rifts have fuelled speculation that Spain could pay a price for standing up to Trump. But Albares played down the idea that Washington might pare back the number of US forces at the two jointly run Spanish bases, Rota and Morón. He also batted away a previous threat by Trump to impose some form of trade embargo on Spain.“The president of the United States talks about many, many countries and he has a way of speaking,” he said. “But when you do foreign policy, it’s facts. And the reality of the facts is that within Nato, when it comes to trade, when it comes to our cultural relations, investment, things are going smoothly. That’s what’s important.”Insisting the US-Spain relationship was “very positive”, he noted with satisfaction that he always spoke in Spanish to Rubio, whose parents migrated to the US from Cuba.One member of the opposition People’s Party in Madrid criticised Sánchez for seeking to “build his brand” on the international stage with an eye on post-prime ministerial jobs. Others suggest he is trying to distract attention from a growing storm of corruption allegations against his family and close allies.Donald Trump and Pedro Sánchez in 2018. Photograph: Emmauuel Dunand/AFP via Getty Images Government officials elsewhere in Europe grumble that Sánchez is antagonising Trump needlessly, even though many European leaders eventually adopted a stance close to his on both Iran and Gaza. France refused to let at least one Iran-bound plane for the US-Israeli assault fly over its territory, while Italy stopped US fighter jets from stopping to refuel at a base in Sicily on at least one occasion.Ignacio Molina, senior fellow at the Elcano Royal Institute, a think tank, said: “Paris and Berlin were not used to a southern nation taking the lead.” A bigger risk for Sánchez than being punished by Washington, he suggested, was “losing centrality in Brussels”.Another potential source of tension between Spain and the US is Cuba, at a time when the Trump administration is applying mounting pressure on Havana.Asked what Spain would do in the event of US military intervention in Cuba, Albares said: “We don’t accept military intervention in the countries in Latin America. For us Latin America goes well beyond foreign policy for Spain. Those are countries with which we have brotherhood ties. We don’t see them as foreign countries.”Spain has also enthusiastically embraced president Xi Jinping’s China, which Sánchez has visited four times in just over three years in search of Chinese investments and buyers for Spanish exports.Although other European leaders have visited Xi for similar reasons, their diplomats say Spain is going out on a limb with its untrammelled enthusiasm and a “naivety” about potential security risks stemming from close economic ties with China.“The EU wants to keep China at arm’s length and keep the US on board,” said a Spanish diplomat who is critical of Albares. “Sánchez gets as close as possible to China and throws sticks in the wheels of Europe’s attempts to rearm. If that is not being an outlier, what is?”Sensitive topics such as Tibet and the fate of Uyghur Muslims are conspicuously absent from Spain’s engagement with China, the diplomat added. Spain’s Asia-Pacific strategy, published in February, does not even mention Taiwan.Rejecting the maverick charge again, Albares claimed that France, Germany and Italy had conversations with China that were “more or less the same” as Spain’s.“If you want to have a global foreign policy, it’s impossible to do so if you don’t have a dialogue with China,” he said. “It would be like saying that you want to have a global foreign policy, but I don’t talk to the United States. I don’t see how you can do it.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026