NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is going to Washington. Meeting with Trump amid tensions in the Alliance
The Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, is to meet with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, in the context in which the American leader expressed his dissatisfaction with the alliance for the lack of support on the issue of Iran.
According to a press release issued Friday, Rutte will also meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
CNN previously reported that Rutte's visit to Washington was expected to take place next week. NATO spokeswoman Allison Hart told the station the meeting had been “planned for a long time.”
Rutte will remain in Washington until April 12, when he will deliver a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute and participate in the Bilderberg Meeting, an annual closed-door forum that brings together political leaders from Europe and North America.
More than 40 countries met virtually on Thursday to discuss strategies to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has criticized NATO allies and states in the region for not doing enough to help restart traffic through the strait after the United States and Israel went to war with Iran.
Trump is seriously considering withdrawing the US from NATO
US President Donald Trump has said he is seriously considering withdrawing the United States from NATO after the allies refused to back US military action against Iran.
In an interview with the British newspaper Daily Telegraph, the US president criticized European allies and described the North Atlantic alliance as a “paper tiger”.
He said he had long had doubts about NATO's credibility.
“Yes, I would say it (is) beyond any reconsideration,” Trump told the paper when asked if he would reconsider US membership in the alliance after the conflict.
“I was never impressed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and Putin knows it, by the way,” he said.
And Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, accused NATO of being a “one-way street”, criticizing US allies on Tuesday for not allowing access to their military bases.
Speaking on Fox News hours before Trump's remarks, Rubio said America would have to “reexamine” its membership in NATO when the war in Iran ends.
“I think there's no doubt, unfortunately, that after this conflict is over, we're going to have to re-examine that relationship,” he said.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said how the U.S. approaches NATO's collective defense, a central element of the alliance founded in 1949, is up to the president.
“As far as NATO is concerned, that's a decision that will be left up to the president. But I will just say that a lot of things have become clear,” was the answer given by the head of the Pentagon.
“When we ask for additional assistance or simple access, basing and overflight, we get questions, blockages or hesitations,” added the US Secretary of War.
The European Allies refused to get directly involved in the war
The statements by US officials came after key European allies rejected calls by the US president to step in to support Washington in its war against Iran.
In recent days, several European states have refused to make their bases available or open their airspace to American aircraft involved in the war.
