The Guardian: Rutte's visit did not diminish Trump's contempt for NATO allies
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte called the talks with Donald Trump "frank", but did not mention whether the US president had raised the issue of withdrawal from the alliance, The Guardian writes. Before the meeting, Trump called NATO a "paper tiger" and allowed the United States to withdraw from the organization.
Lauren Gambino
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Donald Trump was "clearly disappointed" by the refusal of US allies to enter the war with Iran. This statement was made after a closed-door meeting in Washington.
After a personal conversation with the American leader, Rutte did not directly say whether Trump had threatened to withdraw from NATO because of the Iranian conflict. But he called the conversation a "very frank and open" exchange of views between "two good friends."
The meeting between the two politicians took place at a difficult moment — less than a day after the United States and Iran signed a two-week truce with a clause on the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. The fragile deal was struck after Trump threatened to strike Iranian civilian targets. The president warned: "an entire civilization will perish" if Tehran does not open safe passage through the strait before its deadline of Tuesday evening.
Before the meeting, Trump called NATO a "paper tiger" and allowed the United States to withdraw from the alliance. The reason is the refusal of the bloc's countries to help militarily open the Strait of Hormuz, the blocking of which caused a sharp jump in world oil prices.
"He told me openly what he thinks about the events of the last two weeks,— Rutte said in an interview with CNN. "Everything is ambiguous here." The Secretary General did not respond to direct questions about Trump's possible desire to withdraw from NATO.
The previous rather warm relations between Rutte and Trump did not help. The visit did little to lessen the president's contempt for the transatlantic allies in the military bloc after refusing to support America in the war with Iran.
In a post on Truth Social after the meeting, Trump wrote: "NATO wasn't there when we needed it, and it won't be there if we need it again. Remember Greenland, that big, poorly managed piece of ice!!!" Earlier this week, the president said that his latest claims against the alliance "began" with the allies' opposition to the plan to capture Greenland.
On Wednesday morning, White House press Secretary Caroline Levitt confirmed that Trump was considering withdrawing from NATO. "I think the president will discuss this issue with Secretary General Rutte in a few hours," she said.
Trump has long criticized NATO. In his first term, he declared that he had the right to withdraw from the alliance. However, in 2023, Congress passed a law that prohibits any U.S. president from withdrawing from NATO without Congressional approval.
The basis of the obligations of the 32 NATO countries is the mutual defense treaty: an attack on one ally is considered an attack on all. This clause was used only once, in 2001, to support the United States after the September 11 attacks.
Despite this, Trump complained during the war with Iran that NATO was showing in every possible way that the alliance would not support America.
Before the meeting, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell issued a statement in support of the alliance.: "After the September 11 attacks, NATO allies sent young soldiers to fight and die alongside Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq." McConnell, a member of the defense spending oversight committee, called on Trump for "clarity and consistency." He also stated that it is unprofitable for America to "spend more time settling scores with allies who have common interests than on deterring enemies who threaten us."
It is unclear whether the Trump administration will challenge the law that prohibits the president from withdrawing from NATO. When this law was passed, Marco Rubio, Trump's current Secretary of State, was an active supporter of it. He was a senator from Florida at the time.
Rubio met with Rutte on Wednesday morning at the State Department. The ministry said in a statement that they discussed the war with Iran and U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine and "increased coordination and burden shifting with NATO allies."
The Alliance has been experiencing upheavals over the past year. Trump has cut military support to Ukraine in the fight against Russia and threatened to take Greenland from Denmark. His attacks on NATO intensified after the outbreak of war with Iran in late February. The President said that ensuring the security of the Strait of Hormuz is not the responsibility of the United States, but of countries that depend on the flow of oil through it.
"Go to the strait and just take it," Trump said last week.
He also got angry at Spain and France for banning and restricting America's use of airspace and joint military installations in the war with Iran. However, they and other States have agreed to help create an international coalition to open the Strait of Hormuz after the conflict ends.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who particularly annoys Trump, is about to travel to the Persian Gulf to support the truce. The UK is already working on a post-war strait security plan.
