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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Sam Jones in Madrid, Angelique Chrisafis in Paris, Deborah Cole in Berlin and Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo

A lone battle: Why is Pedro Sánchez the only European leader to take on Trump?

Pedro Sánchez on a tv screen giving a televised address
Sánchez said a government’s overriding duty was ‘to protect and improve the lives of its citizens, not to manipulate or profit from global conflicts’. Photograph: Jon Nazca/Reuters

On Wednesday morning, Pedro Sánchez delivered a 10-minute televised address with the rather bland title: “An institutional declaration by the prime minister to assess recent international events.”

The speech’s words, however, were anything but beige. Hours after Donald Trump had threatened to cut off trade with Spain over its government’s refusal to allow two jointly operated bases in Andalucía to be used to strike Iran, Sánchez set out his thinking.

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