The European Union showed its solidarity with Spain on Wednesday after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut trade ties over the Spanish government's refusal to let Washington use bases in Rota and Morón to attack Iran. Messages of support came from high-ranking officials at the European Commission and the European Council, who publicly voiced their backing for Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, while the leaders of the two main European powers, Germany and France, have shown different stances on the matter. The Vice-President of the Executive and Commissioner for Competition, Teresa Ribera, recalled that the EU's foreign trade is 'negotiated as a bloc', so it is not possible to 'impose reprisals' only against Spain. In a radio interview, the former Spanish minister noted that 'the US is not interested in breaking trade relations with the European Union' and added that 'it is important to remain firm'. Along the same lines, the French Vice-President of the Commission in charge of industrial policy, Stéphane Séjourné, assured, in a press statement in Spanish, that 'any trade threat directed at a Member State is, by definition, a threat against the EU'. Also speaking from the EU Executive, Trade Spokesperson Olof Gill stated that Brussels is 'ready to act if necessary to safeguard the interests of the EU'. Pedro Sánchez himself thanked in a message on X for the support of the Head of the EU Executive, Ursula von der Leyen - whose content did not transpire because the German chancellor herself did not inform about it -, that of the President of the European Council, António Costa, and 'among others', that of French President Emmanuel Macron, who conveyed to him 'the European solidarity of France'. Costa, Portuguese social democrat, called Sánchez today to express 'the full solidarity of the EU with Spain.' 'The EU will always guarantee that the interests of its Member States are fully protected.'
