NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte met Friday with US President-elect Donald Trump before he starts his second term in the White House, the Western defence alliance confirmed on Saturday.
On Friday, it already became known that Rutte had taken a Dutch Government plane, leased by NATO, to the US state of Florida. The plane landed not far from Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach estate.
"They discussed the totality of global security issues facing the Alliance," confirmed a brief statement by NATO spokesperson Farah Dakhlallah on Saturday, without giving further details.
Rutte, who is the Netherlands' former Prime Minister and had a good relationship with Trump during his first term in office, had already indicated that he wanted to meet him two days after his election on 5 November. At the time, he said he wanted to discuss the "threat" posed by the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea.
Critical of NATO
"What I am thinking about in particular is how the role North Korea is now playing in Russia's war against Ukraine shows how these countries work together: Russia, North Korea, China and Iran. That is a threat not only to the European arm of NATO, but also to the United States," Rutte said at the time.
Trump regularly criticised NATO, and mainly European Member States for not spending enough on defence. Belgium, where NATO has its headquarters, is currently the second-lowest defence spender among members, having spent just 1.1% of its GDP this year.
Trump did not want to guarantee these members' defence, despite the fact that it is anchored by NATO's Article 5: an attack on one member state is an attack on all member states. Therefore, Rutte will try his best to keep close ties with Trump.
