International Nato Secretary General meets with Trump in Florida

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump in Florida. "They discussed a range of global security issues facing the Alliance," Nato spokeswoman Farah Dakhlallah told the German Press Agency in Brussels. She did not provide any details. She merely added that the meeting had already taken place on Friday. It had not been publicly announced.

According to information from alliance circles, the meeting was to discuss Russia's war against Ukraine and the topic of defense spending, among other things. During the election campaign, Trump claimed that he could end the Russian war of aggression in 24 hours and demanded that all allies should spend three percent of their gross domestic product on defense in the future. Apart from the USA, only four of the 32 NATO states currently reach this mark. Germany is estimated to spend just 2.1 percent this year.

Allies worry about Trump's second term in office

Most NATO member states would have preferred the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris to win the election. Trump's statements in the past had raised doubts as to whether the USA would remain fully committed to its mutual assistance obligations under his leadership. During his term of office from 2017 to 2021, he repeatedly railed against what he saw as insufficient defense spending by European allies and at times even threatened to withdraw the USA from the alliance.

However, Rutte remained calm after Trump's election victory. "Through NATO, the USA has 31 friends and allies who help to promote the interests of the USA, multiply American power and ensure the security of Americans," he said. Together, the allies represent half of the world's economic and military strength. By working together in NATO, they contribute to deterring aggression, protecting collective security and supporting the economy.

It was Rutte's first meeting with Trump in his new role. As Dutch head of government, he had already met the Republican on several occasions. During a meeting with Rutte in 2019, Trump said that he and Rutte had become friends.

SDA