Source: Politics<\/p>\n
When Spain takes the field in Atlanta today against Saudi Arabia, it will have a point to prove: to soccer analysts shocked by the team’s struggle against small Cape Verde, and to the leader of the country in which the match is being played.<\/p>\n
No European country has infuriated Donald Trump more than Spain. Now it\u2019s desperate to win his World Cup.<\/p>\n
Outspoken socialist leader Pedro S\u00e1nchez, a supporter of Atl\u00e9tico Madrid, has clashed spectacularly with Trump over the Iran war, but also regarding NATO spending and Israel\u2019s assault in Gaza. Meanwhile their policies on issues from energy to immigration could hardly be further apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo prime minister previously has had as much acknowledgement [for fighting Trump] on the international stage or taken such an anti-American stance,\u201d said Paco Camas, head of public opinion at polling firm Ipsos. S\u00e1nchez, he added, is positioning himself \u201cat the forefront of resistance to the reactionary wave sweeping across Europe and the West.\u201d<\/p>\n
A recent poll by a public research institute showed that two-thirds of Spaniards disapprove of Trump\u2019s criticism of Spain, suggesting some cross-party support for S\u00e1nchez\u2019s position. Another poll, by independent firm 40db<\/a>, showed that 82 percent of Spaniards see Trump as a threat to world peace, more than any other global leader.<\/p>\n The trigger for the souring of Washington-Madrid relations was the Spanish government\u2019s refusal last year to increase its defense spending in line with American demands.<\/p>\n While Trump strong-armed NATO partners into accepting a 5 percent of GDP expenditure target, Spain \u2014 traditionally one of the military alliance\u2019s lowest defense spenders \u2014 insisted on keeping its expenditure at 2.1 percent. S\u00e1nchez said the 5-percent target would have meant \u201celiminating unemployment, sickness and maternity benefits, reducing all pensions by 40 percent, or cutting state investment in education by half.\u201d<\/p>\n In response, Trump called the country \u201ca laggard\u201d and repeatedly referred to it in disparaging terms. \u201cMaybe you should throw them out of NATO, frankly,\u201d he said<\/a>.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s Middle East conflict only heightened tensions. Spain refused to allow the U.S. to use its joint military bases on Spanish territory for its offensive against Iran, with the prime minister labeling the attacks \u201cunjustified and dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump then threatened to cut off all trade ties with Spain, although that hasn\u2019t happened so far, given how the country\u2019s commercial relationships are embedded in the EU.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of winners, but Spain is a loser,\u201d the president fumed in March to the New York Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n He was referring then not to soccer, but that’s how Spain will hope to prove him wrong today.<\/p>\n