After a private meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, US President Donald Trump continued to criticize the alliance, while Rutte called the meeting “very open,” writes the BBC.
In a post on his social network Truth Social, Trump said that NATO did not respond when it was needed and will not be there when it is needed again. Rutte, in turn, described her meeting with the US president to CNN as very open and frank, despite their clearly different opinions. Before the meeting on the 8th of April, Trump had toyed with the idea that the US could leave the alliance, citing the reluctance of several countries to immediately get involved in opening the Strait of Hormuz to shipping. The White House has not disclosed the content of the meeting.
The meeting between Trump and Rutte was expected to persuade the US president to stay in the alliance and convince him that it was in his and his country’s best interests to stay in NATO. However, it is clear that Trump is still angry that, in his opinion, the alliance and its member states have not been sufficiently involved in his operation in Iran. In recent weeks, the US president has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from NATO. Asked about NATO’s role in the Middle East conflict, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said that Trump said that NATO had been tested and failed. She pointed out that the member states of the alliance had turned their backs on the Americans who were financing their defense, and that Trump would have an honest and open conversation with the NATO secretary general.
Meanwhile, Rutte’s main message seemed to be an indication that many European countries were not standing in the way of the Americans. He stressed to CNN that most European countries have helped with their military bases, overflights and logistics, so the overall picture is multifaceted.
Whether these arguments and Rutte’s good relationship with Trump will be enough is still an open question.
Asked whether the world is safer now than before the attack on Iran, Rutte said it certainly is, and praised Trump’s efforts to reduce Tehran’s nuclear threat. He added that NATO members do not consider the war on Iran illegal, and most agree that Iran’s nuclear capabilities need to be destroyed.
At the end of 2023, the US Congress voted that no US president can unilaterally decide to withdraw from NATO, and this requires the consent of two-thirds of the Senate or an act of Congress.
Relations between the US administration and NATO were already strained before the attack on Iran, and the main reason for this was Trump’s announcements about taking over Greenland. After meeting with Rutte, Trump included his dissatisfaction with the autonomous Danish territory in a post on Truth Social, noting that Greenland should be remembered, “that big, poorly run piece of ice.” However, the conflict in Iran has taken Trump’s annoyance with NATO to a new level, and has created perhaps the greatest challenge in the history of the alliance.
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