When the name of the former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte began to be circulated as possible next NATO Secretary General, months before the US Presidential election, it was clear that one of his strong points was the fact that he didn’t suffer quite as much from Trump Derangement Syndrome as many other European leaders – as you can read in Dutch PM Rutte Urges European Leaders to ‘Stop Moaning and Whining and Nagging About Trump’, Says NATO Has to ‘Work With Whoever Is on the Dance Floor’.
Rutte took over as NATO Secretary General in October, and now the collaboration with Trump appears to have begun.
Associated Press reported:
“U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and the head of NATO have met for talks on global security, the military alliance said Saturday.”
A brief statement by NATO says Trump and its secretary general, Mark Rutte, met on Friday in Palm Beach, Florida.
“’They discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance’, the statement said without giving details.”
Rutte congratulated Trump on his victory and said ‘his leadership will again be key to keeping our Alliance strong’.
Trump worked to strengthen the Alliance by tackling the defense spending of many of its member nations, which were way below the minimum agreed level.
“He depicted NATO allies as leeches on the U.S. military and openly questioned the value of the alliance that has defined American foreign policy for decades. He threatened not to defend NATO members that fail to meet defense-spending goals.
Rutte and his team also met Trump’s pick as national security adviser, U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, and other members of the president-elect’s national security team, the NATO statement said.”
On his second term, Trump will again push NATO members to ramp up defense spending.
Deutsche Welle reported:
“Trump is expected to push NATO members to pay more in defense expenditures in his second term. He has also claimed that he ‘would encourage’ Russia to ‘do whatever the hell they want’ to countries which he deems are not paying their bills.”
Trump is widely expected to work to bring a swift peace to Ukraine, a move which will face resistance by many European leaders.
Rutte wants to speak with Trump about North Korea, Iran, China and Russia ‘working together against Ukraine’.
“’At the same time, Russia has to pay for this and one of the things they are doing is delivering technology to North Korea’, Rutte said during a recent meeting of European leaders in Budapest. He said this development is threatening to the US and continental Europe.
‘I look forward to sitting down with Donald Trump to discuss how we can face these threats collectively’, the NATO chief had said.”
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