Albares and Rubio speak for the first time on the eve of the NATO Ministerial Meeting | Spain

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, and the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, They have maintained their first contact since Donald Trump returned to the White House, on January 20. The chiefs of diplomacy of both countries have discussed telephone this Wednesday for 30 minutes, according to sources from the External Department. In the conversation, which was developed in a « cordial » and Spanish tone-rubio is of Cuban ancestry-, according to the same sources, both reviewed “The Spain-United States relations, The importance of the transatlantic bond and dialogue and cooperation in security and trade, ”said Albares in his social network X. » Also our ties with Latin America, « he added.

The conversation has occurred a few hours before Trump officially announce a battery of tariffs with those who have been threatening since he came to power and who can unleash a commercial war with serious consequences for the European and world economy. In addition, the US administration has announced The withdrawal of the permission to export raw from Venezuela to companies such as the Spanish Repsol, whose interests have pledged to defend the government, and has announced 25% supplementary tariffs for countries that import Venezuelan oil, as is the case in Spain, although the ultimate decision has left it in the hands of the Secretary of State himself.

Marcos Rubio and Albares will see the faces for the first time at the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting held this Thursday and Friday in Brussels, in which the American will raise the European allies to increase their expenditure in defense, a demand aimed especially at the countries that are below 2% of the gross internal product (GDP), such as Spain, in the face of the summit that the Atlantic Alliance will celebrate in June in June The Hague (Netherlands), in which it will be Trump’s first visit to Europe in this mandate. In Brussels, Rubio will also address the war in Ukraine, where Washington negotiates a high fire with Moscow on his back to Europeans, and « China’s shared threat », which will be subject to a specific meeting with NATO partners in the Indo-Pacific region.

This Wednesday’s telephone conversation between the two Foreign Ministers is the highest level contact between Spain and the United States since the new administration has started. On November 12, President Pedro Sánchez called Trump to congratulate him for his electoral victory, but at that time the American had not yet assumed power.

The Undersecretary of State Christopher Landau spoke on March 29 with the Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Diego Martínez Belío, to prepare this Wednesday’s conversation between the two ministers. « Undersecretary Landau reaffirmed the strength of the association between the United States and Spain and called on Spain to increase its defense spending according to their commitments to NATO. The Undersecretary and the Secretary of State spoke about the deepening of our ties in a wide range of mutual interests, including the strengthening of cooperation in matters of migration, » said the US State note.