After US President Donald Trump threatened to cut off trade relations with Spain following a tense meeting with NATO leaders in early July, social media posts falsely claimed that Madrid had announced plans to replace its use of US dollars with the Chinese yuan. But Spanish authorities have denied issuing any such directive and annual reports from the Bank of Spain indicate that the country continues to hold assets in US dollars.
"Spain announces it will use the renminbi to replace the dollar. Follow the Communist Party, head to the crematorium!" the simplified Chinese X post published on July 16, 2026 wrote.
The claims surfaced after Trump described Spain as a "terrible partner in NATO" at the annual summit held in Turkey from July 7 to 8 as a bitter row unfolded over Madrid's defence spending and failure to help Washington with the Iran war ( archived link).
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez later said his country's ties with the United States were "very positive" despite the threat, adding that they had "an informal chat" about football where there was "no kind of tension" ( archived link).
Earlier in March, Trump also threatened to sever all trade ties with Spain after Madrid refused to let US planes use its airspace to attack Iran.
Similar claims of Spain's supposed announcement appeared on X posts in Chinese and Turkish, as well as on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok in English.
Spain joined the European Communities -- the predecessor of the...
After US President Donald Trump threatened to cut off trade relations with Spain following a tense meeting with NATO leaders in early July, social media posts falsely claimed that Madrid had announ...