At NATO summit, Rutte tries to keep Trump tied to alliance
Mark Rutte is heading into the NATO summit in Turkiye trying to keep Donald Trump committed to the alliance. Trump's demand for loyalty and mixed signals on US support have deepened anxiety over NATO's unity.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte heads into this week's summit in Turkiye facing a familiar problem with a sharper edge: keeping US President Donald Trump committed to the alliance. Since taking office nearly two years ago, Rutte has spent much of his time trying to stop Trump from acting on threats to walk away from NATO, often using direct praise to make his case.
But the pressure has shifted. Last year, NATO allies addressed Trump's long-running complaints about defence spending by committing to invest more. The bigger challenge now is turning that money into military strength, especially as European countries worry about a possible Russian attack. At the same time, Trump is pressing for something else. "We don't need their money - we don't need anything," he said last month. "I just want loyalty."
Rutte tried to ease concerns at a White House meeting last month with a new pitch built around a chart labelled "The Trump Trillion" in gold letters. It showed USD 1.2 trillion in spending by European allies and Canada since 2017. In a carefully staged Oval Office presentation, with props echoing the American flag, Rutte said the spending had created tens of thousands of US jobs and left a backlog of USD 300 billion in European orders for military equipment, all thanks to the "leader of the free world". The approach set a new level for Rutte, who was heavily criticised earlier for likening Trump to a "daddy".
Trump, however, appeared unconvinced. He said he was still unhappy that some NATO allies had refused to join the Iran war, which he launched alongside Israel without consulting them. Rutte pushed back gently, saying that up to 5,000 US planes took off from bases in Europe before an April ceasefire.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to leave NATO, considered pulling US troops out of Europe and vowed to take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of ally Denmark. He has also questioned whether he would defend a member that is not spending enough on its military. Last month, the Pentagon surprised NATO allies by saying it was reducing the number of troops, warships, aircraft and drones it would provide if one of them came under attack. Trump has also sent mixed signals on whether US troop levels in Europe would go down or up.
Those cuts and conflicting messages have hurt unity in the alliance at a time when, according to a study released on Thursday, Russia has been testing Europe's defences with drone flights near military bases in several countries. NATO cannot function without the United States, its biggest and most powerful member, even as Europe is being pushed to prepare more on its own.
Each NATO summit is meant to underline the alliance's collective security promise under Article 5, the all-for-one, one-for-all commitment in its treaty. It has been used only once, when allies came to the aid of the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks. At the last NATO summit in The Hague, Rutte's home city, the Dutch royal family hosted dinner and Trump stayed overnight at the king's palace. Rutte won backing for a major defence spending pledge, and Trump left calling his NATO partners a "nice group of people."
This year, the meeting will be hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, another important NATO leader with an independent streak. Trump has suggested he might have skipped the summit if Erdogan were not hosting it. Even so, while Erdogan's close ties with Trump may keep him engaged, they are unlikely to bridge the differences inside the alliance.
Rutte has argued that European allies are now spending enough for the United States to focus more on security challenges from China while Europe deals with the war in Ukraine. But Trump's latest demand is harder to measure. As former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg wrote in his memoir about chairing a summit in 2018 that Trump nearly derailed, "If an American president says he no longer wishes to defend the other allies and leaves a NATO summit in protest, then the NATO treaty and its security guarantee aren't worth very much." As leaders gather in Turkiye, that question again hangs over the alliance.
With PTI Inputs
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte heads into this week's summit in Turkiye facing a familiar problem with a sharper edge: keeping US President Donald Trump committed to the alliance. Since taking office nearly two years ago, Rutte has spent much of his time trying to stop Trump from acting on threats to walk away from NATO, often using direct praise to make his case.
But the pressure has shifted. Last year, NATO allies addressed Trump's long-running complaints about defence spending by committing to invest more. The bigger challenge now is turning that money into military strength, especially as European countries worry about a possible Russian attack. At the same time, Trump is pressing for something else. "We don't need their money - we don't need anything," he said last month. "I just want loyalty."
Rutte tried to ease concerns at a White House meeting last month with a new pitch built around a chart labelled "The Trump Trillion" in gold letters. It showed USD 1.2 trillion in spending by European allies and Canada since 2017. In a carefully staged Oval Office presentation, with props echoing the American flag, Rutte said the spending had created tens of thousands of US jobs and left a backlog of USD 300 billion in European orders for military equipment, all thanks to the "leader of the free world". The approach set a new level for Rutte, who was heavily criticised earlier for likening Trump to a "daddy".
Trump, however, appeared unconvinced. He said he was still unhappy that some NATO allies had refused to join the Iran war, which he launched alongside Israel without consulting them. Rutte pushed back gently, saying that up to 5,000 US planes took off from bases in Europe before an April ceasefire.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to leave NATO, considered pulling US troops out of Europe and vowed to take over Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of ally Denmark. He has also questioned whether he would defend a member that is not spending enough on its military. Last month, the Pentagon surprised NATO allies by saying it was reducing the number of troops, warships, aircraft and drones it would provide if one of them came under attack. Trump has also sent mixed signals on whether US troop levels in Europe would go down or up.
Those cuts and conflicting messages have hurt unity in the alliance at a time when, according to a study released on Thursday, Russia has been testing Europe's defences with drone flights near military bases in several countries. NATO cannot function without the United States, its biggest and most powerful member, even as Europe is being pushed to prepare more on its own.
Each NATO summit is meant to underline the alliance's collective security promise under Article 5, the all-for-one, one-for-all commitment in its treaty. It has been used only once, when allies came to the aid of the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks. At the last NATO summit in The Hague, Rutte's home city, the Dutch royal family hosted dinner and Trump stayed overnight at the king's palace. Rutte won backing for a major defence spending pledge, and Trump left calling his NATO partners a "nice group of people."
This year, the meeting will be hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, another important NATO leader with an independent streak. Trump has suggested he might have skipped the summit if Erdogan were not hosting it. Even so, while Erdogan's close ties with Trump may keep him engaged, they are unlikely to bridge the differences inside the alliance.
Rutte has argued that European allies are now spending enough for the United States to focus more on security challenges from China while Europe deals with the war in Ukraine. But Trump's latest demand is harder to measure. As former NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg wrote in his memoir about chairing a summit in 2018 that Trump nearly derailed, "If an American president says he no longer wishes to defend the other allies and leaves a NATO summit in protest, then the NATO treaty and its security guarantee aren't worth very much." As leaders gather in Turkiye, that question again hangs over the alliance.
With PTI Inputs
