Pedro Sánchez has met with Benjamin León Jr. for the first time, despite heightened tensions between the Spanish and US administrations and recent comments by the new American ambassador criticising the Spanish government.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez received the US Ambassador to Spain Benjamin León Jr. at the Moncloa Palace on Wednesday June 17th.
The invitation came soon after the Cuban-American businessman sent out a veiled but public criticism of the Spanish premier’s lack of contact with the US Embassy in Madrid.
“If the Prime Minister of Spain hasn’t received me, I don’t think he’s going to invite President Trump,” León told the press when asked if his country’s head of state would travel to Spain this year for the 250th anniversary of the United States’ independence.
He reiterated that Trump is “very frustrated” with the Spanish government as it is the only Nato country that has refused to increase its defence spending to five percent.
In May, León defended Donald Trump’s repeated criticisms of Spain but drew a distinction between Spaniards and the government.
“Spain is the only government that has said it will not fulfil what it said at that meeting that it would fulfil,” he said.
READ ALSO: US ambassador backs Trump’s criticism of Spain’s government
“It’s not against the Spanish people, it’s against the government”, he explained recently.
Despite the new US Ambassador’s comments, the meeting between the two men at La Moncloa appeared cordial and Sánchez spoke of his “willingness” to deepen cooperation with the United States “in areas of mutual interest”, even if Spain is currently in the crosshairs of Donald Trump.
According to a statement by the Spanish government, the meeting allowed the premier and León to discuss their countries’ “bilateral relationship and the main international challenges,” without going into further detail.
León was sworn in as US ambassador to Spain on February 10th 2026 after he was finally given the go ahead to take up his post.
Before this, Spain was without a US Ambassador since Julissa Reynoso left her position in July 2024. At the time authorities made it clear that the delay in a new appointment was not due to the state of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
During his appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last year León said that he would work to “reverse” the “great mistake” made by Sánchez in refusing to allocate five percent of GDP to military spending.
Prior to meeting Sánchez, León invited Spain’s far-right Vox leader Santiago Abascal to the American Embassy in Madrid discuss the Socialist government’s alleged corruption.
