A little over a month ago, Bill White presented his credentials to His Majesty King Philippe of Belgium, officially taking up the role of US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium.
Last week, Ambassador White granted The Brussels Times his first in depth sit-down interview since arriving in Belgium. In it, he lays out his mission, his vision for the US-Belgium relationship, and offers his advice to European leaders seeking to make sense of President Trump.
Bill White’s professional journey from bus boy and dish washer in his father’s restaurants in New York to the upper echelons of US society has had many bends in the road along the way, punctuated by high-profile successes, equally high-profile controversies, political twists and turns and ultimately redemption and reward, resulting in his appointment to one of the most influential diplomatic positions in the gift of any US president.
Ambassador White counts President Trump as a friend of over 30 years standing. But his personal life is not necessarily one you would associate with a fully paid up member of the MAGA inner circle. Check out White’s Instagram feed and you will see regular posts featuring his husband Bryan in formal and informal settings. The two have been married for 14 years.
White describes himself as a businessman at heart, but he is also passionate about the armed forces and has raised over $1.5 billion for injured veterans charities.
He takes up his post at a particularly contentious moment in US-EU relations. When we spoke last week, European leaders were still reeling from the aftershock of the now infamous National Security Strategy document released just a few days earlier.
Our conversation lasted nearly an hour, and covered a variety of issues. What follows are the key extracts from our exclusive interview.
The Brussels Times: So what is your mission? What are you here to do?
Bill White: I think it's threefold. I think it goes along with Secretary Rubio's vision. And, you know, he's our boss. Secretary Rubio I think is the perfect guy at the right time, right place, to do this job. He said we want to make America safer, stronger and more prosperous. So every day I wake up and if it doesn't fit one of those three categories, I decide let's not do that right now.
So the priority is, one is to really get to know the Belgian people, because I think the best part of this job is relationships. You can't have a good relationship without keeping your mouth shut listening, and you learn so much when you listen. I am so excited that I've gone out every day all across the country.
And so, look, the priorities really stem from safer, stronger, more prosperous, but that means we have a pretty unique security cooperation with Belgium. NATO is a very important priority for President Trump. Belgium has stepped up to the plate there, so I'm not saying my work is done in this particular group, but that definitely makes us safer, stronger, and more prosperous. We have a huge trade partnership with Belgium. We actually have a trade surplus with Belgium. I'm not saying anything, but there'd be no tariffs on Belgium if Belgium was its own country [and not part of the EU].
TBT: You're a businessman. So is Belgium friendly for business and trade?
BW: Oh yes, it's the focal point of President Trump. I asked him, 'Sir you know I've known you for 35 years. So how do I get an A plus?' He said, 'Bill, I want you to bring back $50 billion worth of investment into the United States.' And I was half kidding with him saying, well you know this is not Saudi Arabia, this is Belgium. And he said - he grabbed me by the arm and he said - 'oh no'. He says, 'You will do it. Everybody I've ever met from Belgium, the entrepreneurial spirit, the drive, they will do it.' The numbers are adding up. And, of course, the questions of tariffs do affect those businesses.
TBT: You can't really be in favour of tariffs. You know how that affects trade and business.
BW: Well, I can't affect changing the trade deal, but I do 100% support President Trump's very hard work and success in rebalancing the global trade arrangements. This is not an easy pill to swallow. I understand that. But there are ways that we have been finding, working with Belgian businessmen and women to help them through some of these hoops. And you have this phenomenal, amazing, extraordinary member of the Royal Family - Princess Astrid - who went to America and I think she collected almost $10 billion in business to bring back to Belgium. I think that's amazing because that's America believing in Belgium, this is Belgium believing in America.
And it goes back to the second priority, to strengthen our cultural ties. And that starts with what happened here in World War I and World War II. I'm trying to explain this so people say, 'well, America has these policies I don't like, personalities I like or don't like'. I try to bring it back to, you know, World War II. I have a friend of mine who works at Fox News. His father was flying over Belgium, his plane was shot down. There were Belgian families that were running toward the plane to save this young boy. Oh my God. Like, think about it. It sounds a little mushy, but for me, the way I'm going to do the job is if we can just go back to that moment in the field, that's really what Belgium and America is about. Those people, that experience.
Bill White pictured with King Philippe of Belgium. Credit: US Embassy in Belgium
TBT: Over the last few days the national security document obviously caused a lot of people to ask, is the US an ally, can they be trusted? Do you think there's been an overreaction or a misunderstanding?
BW: I think so. I am a student of Donald Trump's messaging, and I understand it. You know, a lot of people say to me, 'well, maybe it's unpredictable, or I don't understand the message'. To me, it's very predictable and understandable. And I think the message isn't getting out there. But I’ve known him for 35 years, and I know that he loves the people of Europe, the culture, the history, and the sanctity of the great people of Europe. I think he's concerned where Europe is headed.
You know, when you come to Belgium, you respect the culture, and you can do that by respecting everybody else. And I think some of the people who are coming here and coming to Europe demand your respect of them but they don't have any respect for you. It's not racist it's not Islamophobic it's not homophobic or whatever.
There are many things I love about Donald Trump but I love the fact that you know what he's thinking, he says it directly, so I think what he's saying is let's get our act together because if we don't Europe will be changed forever.
TBT: There were a couple of phrases in particular; ‘civilisation erasure’, ‘unrecognisable in 20 years’ . Do you believe that or do you understand why he's saying that?
BW: No, I love what he's saying. I think he's raising an alarm bell and President Trump is very good at raising big alarm bells and people can either pay attention to that or they won't. And he's usually right about these things. I also would say I'm sad and I'm disturbed. I did a survey before I sat down with you that 80 plus percent of all the stories in Europe about President Donald J Trump - who's my friend - are negative and I don't like it. So part of my job here is to try, and the only way I can, as a friend of his, as someone who I respect and appreciate, is to tell them how I know him and to tell folks how I believe he knows me and how he appreciates me and my husband.
And that's one note right there. President Trump was the only Republican president in the history of America to come out for a gay marriage in the primary. He was told he would be finished. He would never get the first state of New Hampshire, Iowa, to vote for him. And he said, 'well, then I won't get the vote, but I think people agree with me'.
TBT: Do you think he's misunderstood, not just by the general population, but do you think European leaders don't know how to deal with him?
BW: That's a very good question. Some of them do. I see the ones that get along very well with him. They can disagree with him for sure and they do, on certain things. But those relationships are very fruitful and beneficial. I think we will see President Trump here in Belgium. I'm hoping he will come on the 250th anniversary of our nation's birth to celebrate with us.
TBT: Because he just gave an interview where he called European leaders weak. Does he believe that?
BW: Yeah, look, I think if you are one of those people - and he doesn’t name anybody - but I think they know who they are.
TBT: You've met Bart De Wever. You're on the record for saying you like him. So he's not one of the weak ones?
BW: I think Bart De Wever is incredibly successful, he's extremely smart, he's a great studier of history which I think helps him to interweave all these intricacies and complications here in Belgium politically. The fact he's put together the Arizona Coalition. I love the name, this is a beautiful, beautiful name.
Bill White pictured with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever. Credit: US Embassy in Belgium
TBT: Do you think Belgium is aligned with your priorities? Can he deliver on those priorities?
BW: I think he's one of the leaders that's very aligned with America. Business and cultural and defence on stopping crime, illegal migration, anti-Semitism. We're very aligned. Obviously, if there's something that's not aligned with US policy, you'll hear from President Trump, but he will work with anybody that is willing to work with the United States and vice versa.
TBT: You showed up at a police station the other day. That's not usual for a US ambassador. Is that meddling?
BW: That's a good question. I love the police. We have almost 800 employees here. We have hundreds of additional family members. The police are great partners of ours on all of the interdictions that we do for big crimes, narco trafficking, criminal gangs, transnational gangs, and security. They also protect our embassy here. And the police chief over there is now a very good friend of mine and I wanted to go congratulate him. He said something very interesting: he said, 'we know here in Belgium that your president supports the police and loves the police and appreciates police families'. And it almost made me cry because he really does - and so do I.
TBT: When it comes to crime and security, some people might ask if you are here telling Belgium how to deal with this? Is there a bargain going on?
BW: No, actually, it's a very collaborative, well-supported partnership, and nobody's telling anybody what to do. You know Molenbeek, this is where some of the bombing suspects were from, the airport attack and the subway attack [ie. the March 2016 Brussels Terrorist Attacks]. And we were over there at a boxing facility. We had an Olympic boxer, female, and a male boxing coach from West Point, our US Military Academy. And I saw these kids from the neighbourhood, these were mainly inner city, at-risk youth, you know, they could be influenced either way here, and there are some influences that we'd love to have them avoid, radicalisation, whatever that might be. And then these two great American representatives had these kids eating out of the palm of their hand. It was beautiful. We were coaching them. We were having team games. They were laughing. They were hugging each other at the end. They wanted to hug these two Americans. And so at the end of that, I think these kids walked out and said, 'well, maybe that's not an America I heard about'.
TBT: When it comes to the security issues here and Antwerp and the drugs, etc, what tangible things are you wanting to do there and how is that working?
BW: Yeah, so I'll tell you - part of the great meeting today is that we came up with ideas for moving forward on, for instance, forming task forces like we do in America and everybody was very receptive to this and they're all talking, so they all know what each other are doing. For instance, we can help the Port of Antwerp, Port of Liège, any port around the world. You can give us a list of 1,000 containers, and we can look through that list and tell you, 'hey you should look at those five'. You know how many containers come through the Port of Antwerp every year? 40 million. And when they open those five, bad things are in there. And so these are wins. So they're small, but they are significant.
TBT: So, there has been a sense sometimes that Belgium doesn’t deal with some of these issues - do you agree?
BW: I think the answer to that is it's all about resources and I think with Prime Minister De Wever's focus on the budget and his recent success this is a priority for him. He was mayor of Antwerp. He knows about all these problems. And the new mayor, who's terrific, I really like her a lot. She's a dynamo. And she's running that up there. She's doing a great job. I also think with anything, more resources have to go to the police in this country. I also would love to see more love and respect and appreciation for the police here.
TBT: You've got a limited time here in Belgium. At the end of it, how would you judge it as a success?
BW: No, it's a great question, and I'm thinking the same way you are.
I wake up every day, and the 'A-plus' is a real thing. I believe President Trump is in this position at this time for a very special reason.
So I think working every day to make sure we're honouring his agenda and his policies - that's my main goal. We build these cultural bonds and personal ties and the love of these two peoples, you know, personalities and politics aside, that's one thing I can do. I think I will do that to the best of my ability with Bryan. We're a great team. We have a great team. And the last thing is just to always honour our relationship with our nation's veterans. We have over 14,000 fallen heroes buried on this sacred ground here in Belgium. That's a big part of the job. It's something I take very seriously and will always treasure the opportunity to honour them.
TBT: Do you think people still think there's a friendship between the US and Belgium and Europe?
BW: I hope so. And I guess part of my job is to make sure that they know that's how I feel about it. And I know that's how President Trump feels about it. Belgium is very important strategically, culturally, politically, militarily. He has great friends here. You know, the First Lady has one of her best friends here, photographer Régine Mahaux, whose artwork you see here. And I think at the end of the day, the success will be how Belgium viewed what we did here, so I'm always cognisant of that. I think sometimes people think America may have a heavy hand, and I disagree with that because I'm not applying the heavy hand here at all to anything. It's a very natural, friendly, collaborative relationship, and that's the way I've done my life in business and philanthropy, and I think you know me a little bit now. You have to work well with people and respect people to have an accomplishment at the end of the day.
TBT: Do you see yourself as a diplomat or a politician?
BW: Well, no, I'm a diplomat. I wouldn't say I'm a politician. I'm a businessman. I'm an entrepreneur. I am normally a behind the scenes kind of guy, so this is a little different role for me.
TBT: On a more personal level, you’re a French-trained chef right? What's your go-to dish?
BW: Right, well, the politician's answer is to say Brussels sprouts. I cook a mean Brussels sprouts! I love cooking. My father was in the restaurant business in New York. He made me go to bartender school. He made me clean the toilets. I was a dishwasher. I was a busboy, waiter, everything. He had me in every role. That was very fun. Great business learning experience, too. And I really never cooked much, but during Covid I got back into the fun of it and I love doing it. I cook for Bryan regularly but I'm going to do it on Saturday night here for the first time. Hopefully the fire department doesn't have to come and we'll get through it.
TBT: And what do you do to relax? Do you relax?
BW: Do you think I relax? Yeah, I do have downtime. We've been finding time for each other. I think that's really important. And, you know, taking time for yourself today is important. We're actually going maybe on a trip to see family in March. So we'll be here through Christmas. That'll be wonderful through Christmas, through New Year's, because we want to spend time with meeting more great Belgian people like we've been doing.
