WORLD / EUROPE
Spanish government spokesperson responds to Trump’s mistake on Spain as a BRICS member and tariff threat
Published: Jan 22, 2025 12:42 PM
US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 Photo: VCG

US President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025 Photo: VCG


 
After US President Donald Trump confused Spain with a member of the BRICS bloc, a spokesperson for the Spanish government responded, saying she was unsure why Trump made the comment.

Trump erroneously said Spain was in BRICS when a journalist asked him on Monday about NATO countries like Spain which don't meet the NATO minimum of spending 2 percent of economic output on defense. Spain ranked last in the 32-nation military alliance, estimated to spend 1.28 percent on defense last year, per Associated Press (AP).

Trump started his answer by saying "Spain is very low," referring to its defense expenditures, but quickly veered into speaking about the BRICS.

"They're a BRICS nation, Spain. Do you know what a BRICS nation is? You'll figure it out," he told the reporter from the presidential desk in the Oval Office.

Trump repeated his threat to put costly tariffs on BRICS, saying "we are going to put at least a 100% tariff on the business they do with the United States," part of his economic plans that would overturn decades of free trade consensus, reported AP.
 
Spain is not in BRICS, whose initials stand for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. At present, BRICS now has eleven full members: China, Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran and Indonesia, according to Brazilian government website. 

Spanish Education Minister Pilar Alegría, who acts as a spokeswoman for the government, said she wasn't sure why Trump made the comment.

"I don't know if the affirmation made by President Trump was the result of a mix-up or not, but I can confirm that Spain is not in BRICS," Alegría told reporters Tuesday, AP reported.
 
Responding to the then president-elect Trump's tariff threat to BRICS countries, Lin Jian, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on December 3, 2024 that as an important platform of cooperation for emerging markets and developing countries, BRICS advocates openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, not bloc confrontation, and does not target any third party. The aim is to realize common development and prosperity.

Global Times