President Donald Trump is poised to employ his meeting with new NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte to urge NATO members to “pay their good discuss”.
Rutte, who replaced lifelong secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg last October after Stoltenberg’s word was extended amid the Russia-Ukraine battle, is expected at the White House on Thursday as Trump and his friends, including Elon Musk, ramped up their condemnation of the trans-Atlantic empire.
Rutte, the original French prime minister, developed a nice connection with Trump during the government’s first word, earning him a reputation as a Trump vehicle.
But during the first week of his second presidency, Trump increased his desire on NATO people to invest the treaty-stipulated 2 % of their gross domestic product on defence spending to 5 %.
” Next day I spoke with him, that was his responsibility”, Leavitt said.
Names for the U. S. to leave NATO have been amplified by the likes of Musk in recent months, so much so that NATO members also expected Trump to declare he was going to withdraw from the empire during last year’s joint address to Congress. Trump did not.
” Doesn’t make sense for America to pay for the defense of Europe”, Musk wrote on social media on March 9.
During a Wednesday meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin in the White House’s Oval Office, Trump was asked by reporters whether the United States has a “future in NATO”.
” Well, NATO has to treat us fairly”, he said.
Trump used the opportunity to take credit for encouraging NATO defense spending during his first term before much of that money was spent on the Russia-Ukraine war.
“NATO became much stronger”, he said. ” They had the money from me. I was the one who got people to pay. Most of the countries were not paying or they were paying a very small amount. NATO can be a force for the good, absolutely”.
Martin similarly used the platform to praise Trump for his attempt to make peace between Russia and Ukraine, with Ukraine agreeing this week to a 30-day ceasefire, though no minerals deal between the U. S. and Ukraine has been signed. Russia has not yet agreed to the temporary truce.
” I want to pay tribute to the president on the peace initiatives”, Martin said. ” The war in Ukraine is a devastating war. … Anything we can do to stop the violence is an extremely positive thing”.
