Trump stays firm as Rutte tries to soften NATO tensions - Bloomberg
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and US President Donald Trump (Photo: Getty Images)
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte arrived in Washington to temper US President Donald Trump's anger toward European allies who refused to help him in the campaign against Iran, reports Bloomberg.
Rutte praised Trump
As Bloomberg writes, during a meeting with Trump in the Oval Office, Rutte played to Trump's love of praise and vivid visual imagery during his visit to Washington.
Specifically, the NATO chief showed posters with gold lettering and bright red charts bearing the inscriptions Trump Trillion and Trump Effect 47. They highlighted how much more money NATO countries had spent on defense since the US president took office in 2017.
"I go over to these boards here because I want to show you what this president is able to achieve," Rutte said, pointing to the infographics on the posters.
According to him, European countries had not reached the level of US defense spending since the administration of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s.
Trump remained unmoved
During this visit, the Alliance's Secretary General actively promoted his attitude toward Trump, even though Trump openly criticized NATO.
At the same time, Bloomberg notes that not all European allies approved of Rutte's behavior and the remarks made to the American leader.
"Rutte, who once hailed Trump as NATO’s “daddy,” has faced blowback in Europe for what some allies see as a too-deferential approach to the president," the article states.
However, as Bloomberg writes, Trump remained almost unmoved by Rutte's praise. And although the US president spoke positively about the Secretary General himself, he did not forget to once again criticize the allies in Europe who had refused him in the campaign against Iran.
Criticism of specific allies
The US President also listed the European allies he was disappointed in after they refused to help, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz.
"We were disappointed with the UK, we were disappointed with Germany and France," Trump said, while expressing great respect for Rutte.
Mark Rutte was to arrive in Washington ahead of the Alliance's annual summit, which will be held in Ankara in July. His goal is to ease tensions between the US and NATO.
Recently, Trump called Germany and Italy "very bad" US allies for refusing to help in the campaign against Iran.
