Donald Trump's return to the White House is raising concerns in Spain, where officials fear the 47th U.S. president could order the relocation of some 3,000 troops and naval vessels from the Rota base to Morocco. The question, which first surfaced a few years ago, has resurfaced amid renewed tensions between Trump and NATO allies. As The Financial Times reports, the U.S. president's ongoing demands for Europe to shoulder more of its own defense have rekindled longstanding Spanish concerns dating back to 2020. The fear: that Washington may reduce its historic military footprint in Europe. Speculation about a possible U.S. withdrawal from Rota dates back to July 2020, during Trump's first term. Rota was established under a 1953 agreement between U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower and Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, the FT notes. The American military presence played a key role in rehabilitating Franco's image in post-war Europe, despite his earlier alliance with Hitler and Mussolini. Today, the Rota base hosts 2,800 American troops and five destroyers. It is one of the largest U.S. facilities for weaponry and fuel in Europe, complete with an airfield and three piers. Strategically located near the Strait of Gibraltar, it serves as a vital launch point for U.S. operations in the Mediterranean, North Africa, and the Middle East. Morocco: A Possible Alternative? Beyond cost-saving motives, political tensions may also factor into Trump's thinking. Pedro Sanchez's closeness to China is a major source of friction, reports The Financial Times. During a recent visit to Beijing, the Spanish Prime Minister urged the U.S. and China to engage in dialogue over their trade war. Sanchez has also been critical of Israel's military operations in Gaza—another stance that could put Madrid at odds with the Trump administration. Could Morocco benefit from this geopolitical rift? Only one non-European country offers the U.S. similarly strategic locations across the Mediterranean: Morocco, said Michael Walsh, a former Biden campaign staffer, in comments to the FT. The Trump administration sees far less risk in relocating U.S. military assets to Morocco than in keeping them in Spain, he added. Morocco further cemented its ties with Trump in 2020 by normalizing relations with Israel. In fact, back in July 2020, an Iberian media outlet reported that Rabat had offered to host part of the U.S. fleet at the Ksar Sghir naval base. A potential transfer of troops from Rota—or from the Morón base near Seville—was also reportedly considered in 2005 by President George W. Bush. This revelation came from former Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo (2011–2016), who recounted the episode in his memoir Non-Conformist Memoirs of a Centrist Politician. At the time, the proposal followed Spain's abrupt withdrawal from Iraq under then-Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. His predecessor, José María Aznar, had deployed Spanish troops as part of a «sacred alliance» with Bush—one that Zapatero swiftly broke after taking office in April 2004. Today, another socialist—Pedro Sanchez—heads the Spanish government. American troops and their families at Rota contribute roughly €600 million annually to the economy of Spain's Cádiz region. That figure does not include ship repair costs, which are handled by the state-owned company Navantia. In the current context of the war in Gaza, any American military base in Morocco could also draw attention—and possibly backlash—from pro-Palestinian groups and civil society activists.
