NATO's Rutte makes hard sell to Trump to ease Iran strains

WASHINGTON - NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte played to President Donald Trump's love of praise and splashy visuals during a visit to Washington that was aimed at easing the U.S. leader's anger over alliance nations' reluctance to help with the campaign against Iran.

Meeting Trump in the Oval Office, Rutte displayed posters that featured gold lettering and bright red bar charts labeled "The Trump Trillion" and "The Trump 47 Effect." They highlighted how much more money NATO nations have spent on defense since Trump first took office in 2017.

"I go over to these boards here because I want to show you what this president is able to achieve," Rutte said. European nations matching the U.S. on defense spending was something that hadn't been achieved since the administration of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, he said.

The visit saw Rutte in hard-sell mode and playing on his warm relationship even as Trump has turned on the alliance. Rutte, who once hailed Trump as NATO's "daddy," has faced blowback in Europe for what some allies see as a too-deferential approach to the president.

Trump appeared mostly unmoved by the appeal, though he gave no indication that he's preparing to downgrade relations with the alliance or take other punitive action. He praised Rutte while reiterating his disappointment with European allies for balking at allowing the U.S. to use their bases as part of the campaign against Iran.

"We were disappointed with the UK, we were disappointed with Germany and France," Trump said. "But I have great respect for this man and so we're going to be discussing what took place."

When Rutte mentioned that there were still ongoing "debates" about whether European allies were standing with the U.S., Trump cut him off, saying "they weren't." He slapped the secretary general on the knee.

The NATO chief's visit comes at a delicate moment for the alliance with the Iran war inflaming already simmering tensions between Washington and its allies. Trump has also bristled at criticism over the war and the allies' refusal to try to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force.

"European allies have been there," Rutte told Trump, citing what he said were 4,000 to 5,000 U.S. flights from military bases. He hailed Trump as the "leader of the free world."

"I really want to make clear how important it is what you are doing on Iran," Rutte said.

Speaking to reporters later Wednesday, Rutte said he had a good meeting with Trump and the U.S. president is "completely committed" to the alliance, even as he expected "allies to spend more to equalize with the United States."

"His leadership is successful," Rutte said in an interview with Bloomberg Television after the Oval Office meeting, when asked whether he had developed a "playbook" for dealing with the U.S. president.

He cited Trump's ability to degrade Iran's nuclear capability and get allies to spend more on defense, and he said the president would play a crucial role at a meeting of NATO leaders set for next month in Ankara, Turkey. "They are absolutely there to hear his views, to get his thoughts on the next steps we collectively have to take," Rutte told Bloomberg's Balance of Power.

The secretary general dismissed Europe's disdain for the U.S.-led war in Iran as "isolated" cases and called the continent "one big power-projection platform for the United States."

While Rutte has been able to calm earlier flare-ups with Washington, including over defense spending and when Trump threatened to seize Greenland, the strains from the Iran war may be more difficult to resolve. The Trump administration has warned it may draw down troops from Europe.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth assailed allies last week at NATO headquarters in Brussels, citing what he called a "shameful" lack of help during the war and announcing a six-month review of the U.S. military presence in Europe. Hegseth said U.S. dues to NATO would be contingent on other allies meeting their own defense spending targets.

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With assistance from Jen Judson, Courtney Subramanian, Joe Mathieu, Kailey Leinz, Iain Marlow and Nick Wadhams.

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This story was originally published June 24, 2026 at 6:22 PM.