The post of US ambassador to Spain has been vacant since Julissa Reynoso left in July to rejoin the law firm Winston & Strawn as a partner focused on transnational matters.
León's nomination is still subject to Senate confirmation, but Spanish daily El País reports that Trump's nominee should have no problem getting the green light from the upper house.
"Benjamin is a highly successful entrepreneur, equestrian enthusiast and philanthropist. He came to the United States from communist Cuba at age 16, with only five dollars in his pocket, and built his company, Leon Medical Centers, into an incredible business,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social media platform he had set up after being kicked off Twitter, now X.
León is a Republican Party donor. His appointment comes at a time of political uncertainty across Europe and the world, and one in which Spain’s future relationship with the US seems uncertain.
READ ALSO: What Trump thinks of Spain (and what Spaniards have said about him)
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist (PSOE) led coalition is one of the few left-leaning governments on the continent. Spain’s stances on foreign policy in particular, notably on Gaza and recognising the Palestinian state, could plausibly be points of contention with the incoming Trump administration.
READ ALSO: IN DEPTH - Why does Spain support Palestine?
Tariffs on olives imposed by Trump but which the Biden administration has largely maintained and, more recently, the threat of sanctions against Spain for vetoing the stopover of ships carrying arms for Israel, could also become diplomatic issues.
The debate over NATO member states' military spending, on which Trump is very insistent and Spain lags behind in terms of spending compared to other countries, may also present political friction.
León will have to navigate these diplomatic challenges at a time of geopolitical instability and conflict, but also of relative domestic political uncertainty in Spain as Sánchez's fragile coalition heads into another year.
León was born in Oriente, Cuba, in 1944. His family emigrated to the United States 1961 following the Cuban Revolution. He arrived in Miami at the age of 16, followed by his parents and brother that same year.
After working several jobs over the years, León noticed that many Cuban immigrants had difficulty accessing medical care due to the language barrier and an overwhelmed health care delivery system.
As a result, León’s father founded Miami's first prepaid medical centre, Clínica Cubana, in 1964. Father and son then founded Clinica Asociación Cubana (CAC) in June 1970, which became another business and then the León family sold the firm to the giant UnitedHealthCare in 1994 for $500 million.
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