By GB News (World News) | Created at 2026-09-03 03:25:41 | Updated at 2026-09-03 04:13:28
50 minutes ago
Donald Trump has told GB News Spain will be a "ruined country" amid the Ceuta migrant crisis.
Ceuta, a Spanish exclave in north Africa, was flooded with over 70,000 illegal migrants from Morocco on July 30.
While many migrants returned to the African country, thousands remain with the rate of sexual assault now nearly one a day.
Now, the President has weighed in on the ongoing crisis while also taking aim at Spain's defence spending.
He told GB News: "Spain will be a ruined country, and I've had my own problems with Spain because Spain doesn't behave very well with respect to Nato.
"They don't pay what they should be paying. It's very sad."
At the 2025 Nato Summit in The Hague, the alliance's 32 members largely agreed to spending 5 per of GDP on defence by 2035, with 3.5 per cent on "core defence" and 1.5 per cent on security-related spending.
Spain fiercely opposed the Mr Trump-set target - Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the spending target would "not only be unreasonable but also counterproductive".
The country currently meets the current Nato target of 2 per cent, but has resisted the 5 per cent target, claiming its current spend was enough.
Donald Trump told GB News Spain would be a 'ruined country' as he expressed his problems
GB NEWS
Mr Trump also said Britain was facing its own migrant crisis, although one less visible than Ceuta's swarm of migrants.
"Hopefully other countries like the UK - where you have your own problems - but it's not as visible as that," the President said.
"You know, you don't have thousands of people just bum rushing your country. I've never seen anything like it."
Ceuta's migrant swarm followed a ruling that migrants reaching Spain's exclave by sea could not be summarily returned to Morocco and Mr Sánchez's decision to grant legal status to around one million migrants.
The Spanish Prime Minister, however, blamed human trafficking gangs and online disinformation for the migrant wave which rocked Europe as he absolved Morocco of any involvement.
Protesters took to the streets of Spain to call for Pedro Sánchez to resign over his handling over the migrant crisis
REUTERS
Just days ago, Mr Sánchez said Israel and Russia bore responsibility for spreading misleading news - both countries denied the claim.
On Wednesday, thousands of protesters in cities across Spain took to the streets and condemned the Spanish Government for its handling of the migrant crisis.
Demonstrators in the exclave chanted: "Ceuta is not for sale, Ceuta must be defended."
Many protesters also demanded that Mr Sánchez resign as demonstrations took place in cities across Spain, including Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao.
The country's ruling Socialist Worker's Party finally apologised for the shocking flood of migrants to Ceuta last week as Defence Minister Margarita Robles faced the country's Parliament.
Sexual assault spiked in Ceuta after the migrant crisis
The Spanish leader has also previously drawn the ire of the President over the refusal to allow US forces to use its bases.
The Government insisted its military operations were done in "commitment to world peace, with our allies in NATO, the United Nations and the European Union".
The same day Mr Trump tarred former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer as "not Winston Churchill" he ordered the US Treasury to "cut off all dealings" with Spain over its inaction in the Iran war.
Mr Trump's remarks on defence spending come as the US hopes to increase burden-sharing - forcing Europe and Canada to be responsible for defending the continent.
The Spanish leader is likely to insist his country be exempt from wider Nato spending targets.
"It is the legitimate right of every government to decide whether or not they are willing to make those sacrifices. As a sovereign ally, we choose not to," he wrote in a letter in 2025.
