Trans-Atlantic differences remain as Trump huddles with NATO boss

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Thursday presented a united front over a ceasefire plan in Ukraine, but it was clear trans-Atlantic differences remain unresolved.

The meeting came just over a week after Trump’s pick for his ambassador to NATO told senators that the U.S. commitment to the alliance was “ironclad,” though some Democrats have expressed concerns about a potential shift in U.S. policy away from the longtime military compact.

As have other world leaders, Rutte sat beside Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday and tried a little flattery, saying he wanted to “commend” the U.S. president over his attempts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict and crediting Trump with “breaking a deadlock.”

Rutte also told Trump he was “totally right” about China and Russia stepping up their activities in the Arctic and said it was “very important” for Arctic nations besides Russia to work together under U.S. leadership to keep the resource-rich region safe. The NATO boss said increasing European defense production — long a Trump demand — would be on their agenda, while Trump said member nations must take actions to keep the alliance “relevant” and “strong.”

But it was clear their differences remained.

“We have to do it. We really need it for national security,” Trump said of a potential U.S. annexation of Greenland. Rutte declined to comment, saying there was no need to “drag NATO” into the matter.

Trump also took a swipe at Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister, saying the United States devotes more to its defense budget than European countries do. “We’re on the other side of the ocean, and they’re right there,” he said, appearing to refer to Russia. “It’s unfair.”

“When I first went to NATO, my first meeting, I noticed that very few people were paying — and if they were, they weren’t paying their fair share,” Trump said. “I just said, ‘We’re not going to be involved with you, if you’re not going to pay (more).’ And the money started pouring in.”

Trump said he and Rutte would also “be talking about trade” and suggested the NATO leader could urge alliance member countries to give the U.S. better terms on the exchange of goods and services amid his trade war with Canada, the European Union and other nations.

As the two leaders spoke, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff was in Moscow to try selling Russian President Vladimir Putin on a ceasefire plan already approved by Ukrainian leaders. Trump and Rutte said they wanted the truce to be in place soon, with the U.S. leader saying of Putin: “I’d love to meet with him and talk to him — but we have to get (the war) over with fast.”

The war in Ukraine has been a point of disagreement between Trump and NATO leaders, with some European officials and Democratic lawmakers openly accusing the U.S. president of aligning Washington with Moscow. On Feb. 12, Trump said he would be “OK” with Ukraine not joining NATO as part of any peace pact.

Then came Feb. 28, when Trump and Vice President JD Vance dressed down Ukrainian President Zelenskyy during a tense verbal sparring match in the Oval Office.

“After the shouting match in the Oval Office last week, our most important allies in Europe, in NATO, and around the world, they don’t know if they can rely on the United States anymore either,” Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said during a March 4 confirmation hearing for three Trump nominees, including Matthew Whitaker, the president’s pick for U.S. ambassador to NATO.

“Whether we’re talking about NATO or management and resources at the State Department, to our nominees today,” Shaheen said, “I would ask this: Do you believe that withdrawing from regions that need us the most, that ending our engagement in crisis zones, that taking one of our best soft power tools off the table, does that make America safer? Does it make us more prosperous? Does it make us more secure? I don’t believe so.”

Sen. Chris Coons asked Whitaker, who served as acting attorney general in the first Trump administration, during the same hearing whether it served the national interest to “abandon Ukraine.” When Whitaker responded that “what’s in our national interest obviously is a broad question,” Coons soon cut him off, citing the limited time he had for questions.

“Showing up, suiting up, getting in the fight, and pulling in the same direction is what a team with clear-eyed leadership does, and whatever that was last Friday, I hope we can get back on track in a united approach with our vital allies instead of confusing them, dividing them,” the Delaware Democrat said.

NATO defense budgets

Trump again raised concerns on both side of the Atlantic Ocean last week when he declared that his administration would not defend NATO allies that opted against raising their defense spending should they be attacked.

“It’s common sense, right?” he said while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office. “If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them.”

Such a move would be a rejection of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in 1949, in which NATO alliance members “agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.”

Trump spent most of his first term as president pressuring NATO countries to boost their military budgets to at least 5% of their respective gross domestic products, and he kept that up during his 2024 campaign and since returning to the White House.

On Jan. 23, three days after taking the oath of office for a second time, Trump suggested the United States — which is not currently spending 5% of its GDP on defense — should not have to raise its military expenditures to that level.

“They’re not protecting us. We’re protecting them,” he told reporters at the time. “So I don’t think we should be spending (more).”

The last time the United States spent 5% of its GDP on defense was 1992, according to World Bank data. As of 2022, the last year of a published World Bank figure, U.S. defense spending was 3.5% of its GDP.

And in February, Trump delivered this message to NATO members in Oval Office remarks: “You got to pay. If you don’t pay, we’re not going to protect you. It’s very simple. … And so, they’re going to have to step it up a little bit.”

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