Frosty welcome for Spanish negotiators at U.S. talks as Madrid stands by closer China relations

"Constructive," a "very useful meeting," "mutual interests" - the kind of pat phrases that politicians often regurgitate when they come out of official meetings.

Such lukewarm words often mean little. This time they were the actual phrases used by Spain's Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo after trade talks in Washington.

By contrast, the words used by the U.S. side struck a rather more expressive tone.

The statement coming from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's office called these Spain-U.S. trade talks "frank discussions", strongly urging Spain to raise its defense spending and drop the digital levy on U.S. tech giants known as the 'Google Tax.'

The Treasury meeting summary, sent nearly six hours after it ended, read: "Today, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent met with Minister of Economy, Trade, and Business Carlos Cuerpo of Spain. The Secretary and Minister held frank discussions on issues pertaining to trade between the United States and Spain.

"During their talks, Secretary Bessent highlighted the need for greater defense spending by Spain in the context of NATO. The Secretary also underlined the United States' continued opposition to the digital services tax levied by Spain and other countries, as well as other non-tariff barriers."

Contrast that with statements to the press from Cuerpo. "It was a very constructive, very useful meeting, and a very good first contact for continuing to maintain relations from now on on all issues that benefit us and that are of mutual interest to us, from trade to economic and financial relations, but also to review the current situation, considering the mutual interests on the part of Spain and the United States."

Cuerpo insisted he saw "an open door to negotiation" as U.S. President Donald Trump administration's on-again-off-again trade war continues to confound economists, traders, and businesses worldwide.

Spanish exporters are growing increasingly nervous, particularly in the olive oil and wine trade. Spain is the biggest olive oil producer on the planet and makes more wine than anyone bar France and Italy.

'The uncertainty is the biggest threat'

CGTN spoke to Jose Luis Benitez, general Manager of the Spanish Wine Federation: According to Benitez: "The uncertainty is huge, it's enormous, the biggest threat. Today it's 20 percent, tomorrow 10 percent, three weeks ago they threatened 200 percent."

Benitez says small family winemakers could suffer most. "It's the micro-warehouses, the smallest businesses with less than ten employees, they'll be worst affected as they have a much larger exposure in their exports to the United States, up to 30 percent," he explained.

So why the hardening tone from the U.S.?

Many analysts point to Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's recent visit to Beijing where the delegation talked up closer ties between Spain, China and the European Union.

Bessent said at the time that this "would be like cutting your own throat" at a banking conference in Washington, a warning that Sanchez brushed off, saying Spain favoured "multilateralism," "understanding," and free trade.

The aim of this visit from Cuerpo to the White House was to smooth things over and show it was possible to be friends with both Beijing and Washington, but Cuerpo's cold reception reflected the wider EU dilemma as it walks a trade tightrope between the world's two largest economies.

Cuerpo has said that Europe needs to stand together with "confidence, and unity, first and foremost for our consumers, for our companies, our industries, so that they know that Europe will defend them and, of course, protect their interests."

Trump's main grievances against the EU include movie industry regulations including European-produced film quotas imposed on Netflix and other streamers, the treatment of pharmaceutical companies, EU aid to Airbus and the Google tax.

That tax forces Big U.S. Tech firms like Google and Meta to pay more taxes in Europe, something that Spain has pioneered, and it's a big issue where the EU and the U.S. do not see eye-to-eye during these increasingly turbulent times for global trade.