President Donald Trump met with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the White House on Wednesday as tensions between the U.S. and the alliance rise just weeks ahead of a summit.
Trump was critical of European allies for being reluctant to join the U.S. military effort against Iran and fired off a round of insults last week, putting relationships with key allies in a difficult place.
This came just after Trump is working on a deal with Iran to end the war and participated in the Group of Seven meeting in France. He’s expected to go to the NATO summit July 7, in Ankara, Turkey.
Trump has been critical of other NATO countries for not carrying their fair share financially and has threatened during both of his terms to pull the U.S. from the alliance.
Trump angry at NATO over staying on the sidelines during Iran war
However, the meeting this year might be more tense over the lack of aid during the Iran war and several countries not allowing U.S. troops to use their military bases.
A group of European countries recently met in Berlin to coordinate a joint position ahead of the NATO summit, to take “greater responsibility for our shared transatlantic security.”
According to sources that spoke with EuroNews, Rutte will try to put on the flattery to impress Trump ahead of the summit in early July.
Rutte has a track record of success in impressing Trump, even calling the president “daddy” in a joke to praise how the president has handled the Middle East.
Their meeting was closed to the press and the public, but the White House press pool was called into the Oval Office Wednesday afternoon, where the two leaders took questions.
Trump said the U.S. didn’t help from their European allies with the Iran operation, but when he spoke to leaders he was instead testing the temperature. Trump said had the U.S. needed the help, if he called Rutte, he likely would have figured out a way to make it work.
Rutte said that NATO is “so much stronger” since Trump was elected in 2016.
“I want to share with the media, with you being here at the present, and it’s about leadership. First of all, about Iran, I really want to make clear how important it is what you are doing on Iran,” he said, adding, “This is extremely important, and I just want to make this clear, because sometimes people think, why was this whole Iran thing going on? This is about security, about safety. This is the leader of the free world, taking responsibility beyond the shores of the United States for the rest of the world.”
