Spain’s Sanchez to attend World Cup final alongside Trump amid tensions

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives for the Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

MADRID - Spain’s Pedro Sanchez and U.S. President Donald Trump are set to meet again at Sunday’s World Cup final, as strained relations between the two leaders over defense spending and the war with Iran continue to simmer.

Sanchez, the Spanish prime minister, will be in New Jersey for the game, his office said on Friday, where Trump could end up handing the trophy to the Spanish team, who play Argentina.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Spain over the government’s refusal to commit to NATO’s target of spending five per cent of GDP on defence, making numerous threats of trade reprisals.

The latest came earlier this month at the NATO summit in Ankara when Trump told his advisers to “cut off all trade with Spain, including visits.”

The U.S. leader later softened his tone, saying Spain had honoured the request for payments and been “very generous,” a statement which Sanchez’s government understood as a reference to Madrid complying with its agreed defense spending target of two per cent of GDP.