US President Donald Trump began his first day after re-election by signing a large number of executive orders, alongside answering questions from journalists in the Oval Office. One question pertained to the low defense spending of some NATO member states, including France and Spain. Trump immediately seized on the topic, criticizing Spain’s defense spending as “too low” and threatening the Madrid government with a 100% tariff. However, Trump mistakenly included Spain in the BRICS group, a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and later South Africa.
A Spanish newspaper, El País, attributed the mistake to Trump’s confusion of Spain with South Africa due to the similar starting letter “S”. The paper quoted the politician’s muddled response, saying, “It’s a BRICS state, Spain. You’ll find out what a BRICS state is. If the BRICS states want to do that, that’s okay, but we’ll impose a 100% tariff on them for doing business with the US.”
Trump seemed to refer to speculations about the BRICS states potentially introducing their own currency in the future. When a journalist asked if Spain should now expect a 100% tariff, Trump continued, “As a BRICS state, they will have a 100% tariff, if they continue to think about what they’re discussing. They will give up on that idea immediately because China will not do it.”
Despite being prompted to clarify why he referred to an EU member as a BRICS member, Trump seemed not to understand the question, only saying that the BRICS group consisted of “six or seven” countries and would take on the US. If the BRICS countries did that, they would not be happy, the US President added.
The BRICS group was initially formed in 2006 as an informal grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, with South Africa joining in 2010. In 2024, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates were added, and in 2025, Indonesia joined, bringing the total to ten members.
Among NATO member states, Spain is often criticized for its low defense spending, falling short of the agreed-upon target of 2% of its GDP. In contrast, Trump demands that NATO partners allocate at least 5% of their GDP to military spending.