ANKARA, July 8 : Spain has dismissed US President Donald Trump's latest threat to halt trade with the country, saying its economic, social and cultural relationship with Washington remains strong and mutually beneficial.

Trump, speaking during the NATO summit in Ankara, criticized Spain over its defense spending commitments and called for an end to trade between the two countries, describing Madrid as an unreliable ally.

Trump singled out Spain for particular criticism, calling it a "terrible partner in NATO".

"Spain is a wasted cause. We don't want to do any trade business with Spain any more," he said, asking his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to "cut it off".

Unnamed government sources said Spain maintains "a magnificent social, cultural and economic relationship" with the US that benefit both countries, according to Spanish news outlet EFE.

Spanish government sources said that relations with the United States continue to be "excellent" and stressed that trade cannot target Spain alone because it is part of the European Union's single trade bloc.

Madrid also noted that economic ties between the two countries are largely driven by private businesses and benefit both sides. Spanish officials highlighted that the US-Spain trade relationship contributes positively to both economies.

The tensions between US and Spain escalated over NATO defense spending. Spain has been the only alliance member to avoid committing to the target of raising defense expenditure to 5% of GDP by 2035, though it has increased spending in recent years.

Despite the political disagreement, Spain and the US maintain close economic and defense links, with trade covering sectors including olive oil, automotive components, steel and chemicals.

The European union is a trade union and so no individual member state can be singled out in trade matters, the sources said.

President Trump threatened to cut off trade with Spain and insisted he still wants control over Greenland as NATO leaders met for day two of their summit in Ankara.

"I'm very upset with NATO," he told reporters. "I'm not happy with NATO because of what they did with Greenland, and I'm not happy with NATO because of the fact that they didn't want to help us with the number one state sponsor of terror, that's Iran."

He said Greenland is "very important for the United States, but it's not important for Denmark".

"We need it for protection of the world, not just the United States It doesn't help Denmark but it helps us." (UNI)