US president-elect Donald Trump and NATO Secretary-Genera Mark Rutte have met for talks on global security, a spokesperson for the transatlantic military alliance said on Saturday.
“They discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance,” NATO spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah said in a brief statement without giving details.
Trump and Mark Rutte met on Friday in Palm Beach, Florida, the statement added.
Photo: AFP
It appeared to be Rutte’s first meeting with Trump since his Nov. 5 election. Rutte had previously congratulated Trump and said “his leadership will again be key to keeping our Alliance strong” and that he looked forward to working with him.
Trump has for years expressed skepticism about the Western alliance and complained about the defense spending of many of its member nations, which he regarded as too low.
He depicted NATO allies as leeches on the US military and openly questioned the value of the alliance that has defined US foreign policy for decades. He threatened not to defend NATO members that fail to meet defense-spending goals.
Rutte and his team also met Trump’s pick as national security adviser, US Representative Michael Waltz, and other members of the president-elect’s national security team, the NATO statement said.
Rutte, who was Dutch prime minister from October 2010 to July this year, took over at the helm of NATO last month.
He was widely regarded as one of the best European leaders at forging a good working relationship with Trump during his first term as US president from 2017 to 2021.
Additional reporting by staff writer