BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump has apparently confused Spain for a member of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, causing some head-scratching and jitters over possible tariffs in Madrid.
Spain is not in BRICS, whose initials stand for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Spain is a member of NATO, along with the U.S., and of the European Union.
Trump erroneously said Spain was in BRICS when a journalist asked him about NATO countries like Spain which don’t meet the NATO minimum of spending 2% of economic output on defense. Spain ranked last in the 32-nation military alliance, estimated to spend 1.28% on defense last year.
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.