{"id":206317,"date":"2026-04-03T05:54:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/as-trump-rails-against-nato-secretary-general-heads-to-washington-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T05:54:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T05:54:50","slug":"as-trump-rails-against-nato-secretary-general-heads-to-washington-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/as-trump-rails-against-nato-secretary-general-heads-to-washington-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"As Trump rails against NATO, secretary general heads to Washington – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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WASHINGTON \u2014 NATO\u2019s secretary general is heading to the White House next week as President Donald Trump lashes out over European allies\u2019 refusal to join the U.S. and Israel\u2019s war with Iran.
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Both NATO and the White House said Thursday that Mark Rutte\u2019s travel was planned long in advance. He has often sought to tamp down Trump\u2019s long-simmering ire toward the trans-Atlantic alliance, and his practice of refusing to criticize the U.S. and insist there is no larger NATO issue has in turn angered some of his European counterparts.
Trump is again vowing to reassess U.S. membership in NATO once the Iran war is over, calling it a \u201cpaper tiger\u201d in a recent interview with The Telegraph<\/a>.
Trump\u2019s main issue right now is NATO members\u2019 refusal to show \u201ccourage\u201d and lead the fight in clearing the Strait of Hormuz so oil-bearing ships can once again safely pass. He has also expressed anger that the United Kingdom, Spain and France have declined to allow the U.S. unfettered use of their airspace and military bases for attacks on Iran.
\u201cThis is the worst crisis NATO has faced in 77 years,\u201d said Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and a senior fellow at Harvard University\u2019s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.
\u201cThere is a growing realization on the part of Europeans that they need to put themselves in a position where they are less and less dependent on the United States,\u201d Daalder said.
While Trump can\u2019t unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from NATO, a move that Congress would have to approve, he could take steps to diminish the alliance and weaken it as a deterrence, particularly against potential threats from Russia.
Trump has long had it out for NATO, having declared it obsolete during his first term as he pushed his \u201cAmerica First\u201d policies.
During his second term, he has gone much further, shocking allies by saying he might use military force to take Greenland<\/a>. There was so much concern that Danish soldiers were sent to Greenland with explosives, prepared to blow up two critical airport runways should Trump choose to follow through on his threats, according to two European officials. It didn\u2019t happen. The Danish government declined to comment on the precautionary measures, which were first reported by the Danish outlet DR<\/a>.
Trump walked those comments back at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this year<\/a>, but during his time there he pressured Denmark and Europe to hand over what he called a \u201cpiece of ice.\u201d
Western diplomats say the episode<\/a> was a watershed for U.S. allies, who concluded that America could no longer be fully trusted as a reliable partner. The rift over the war against Iran and Trump\u2019s bullying over trade<\/a> have only reinforced NATO members\u2019 perception that they must steer their own course and wean themselves off of U.S.-made weapons and technology.
The U.S.-NATO relationship was already strained by divisions in the approach to ending Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. While Europe sees helping Ukraine beat back Russia as the top security priority, Trump bluntly said as recently as last week, \u201cUkraine\u2019s not our war.\u201d
Trump halted direct military aid to Ukraine when he returned to the White House last year and has appeared to side with Russia in peace talks<\/a>, which raised concerns in European governments that they could no longer dismiss his criticism of NATO as mere rhetoric. His actions showed that the U.S. was unwilling to support the alliance against its main threat \u2014 Russia, according to Western officials.
The U.S. also eased sanctions on Russian oil to counter rising prices after Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz despite Europe\u2019s insistence that the pressure on Moscow should be increased to help end the Ukraine conflict. The Trump administration has also made it clear that U.S. weapons Ukraine urgently needs will be diverted if necessary to fight the war in the Middle East.
\u201cI do think something fundamental has broken in the alliance, and it will be very hard to restore, not impossible, but very difficult,\u201d Daalder said.
Rutte, who has the increasingly difficult task of holding the 32-nation alliance together, is well known for lavishing praise on Trump \u2014 even having once referred to him as \u201cDaddy.\u201d Sometimes referred to as the Trump whisperer, Rutte has been both applauded and criticized for his approach to handling Trump.
Even though the U.S. kept NATO allies in the dark ahead of the war in Iran, Rutte has publicly defended the U.S. military operations, saying what Trump is doing would \u201cmake the whole world safer.\u201d
\u201cIf Iran would have the nuclear capability, including, together, with the missile capability, it will be a direct threat, an existential threat, to Israel, to the region, to Europe, to the stability in the world,\u201d he told CBS News <\/a>in an interview last month. \u201cSo the president doing this is crucial.\u201d
But Rutte has also acknowledged his personal approach to Trump hasn\u2019t always been well-received.
\u201cI hear the criticism, obviously. I\u2019m not deaf,\u201d he said in a recent interview with Reuters<\/a>.
Trump\u2019s comments about NATO allies\u2019 reluctance to get involved in the Iran war, particularly to secure the Strait of Hormuz, have prompted some public spats within the alliance.
\u201cThe countries of the world that do receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage,\u201d Trump said in an address to the nation Wednesday night after he told the Telegraph, which asked whether he\u2019d reconsider U.S. membership: \u201cOh yes, I would say [it\u2019s] beyond reconsideration. I was never swayed by NATO.\u201d
Not long after, Finnish President Alexander Stubb posted a message on X that he\u2019d spoken with Trump, writing: \u201cConstructive discussion and exchange of ideas on Nato, Ukraine and Iran. Problems are there to be solved, pragmatically.\u201d
Lithuania and Estonia publicly extolled the importance and value of the U.S. as members of the alliance. Others were less pragmatic.
\u201cThe threat of NATO\u2019s break-up, easing sanctions on Russia, a massive energy crisis in Europe, halting aid for Ukraine … it all looks like Putin\u2019s dream plan,\u201d Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, \u201cNATO is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen, and it has kept us safe for many decades, and we are fully committed to NATO.\u201d
Starmer has been a lightning rod for Trump\u2019s personal attacks. Trump has dismissed him as \u201cnot Winston Churchill\u201d for the U.K.\u2019s reluctance to involve itself in the war. Starmer dismissed the attacks this week, saying, \u201cWhatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I\u2019m going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions that I make.\u201d
\u201cAnd that\u2019s why I\u2019ve been absolutely clear that this is not our war or we are not going to get dragged into it,\u201d he said.
Colleen Long is a senior editor with NBC News Digital.
Dan De Luce\u00a0is a reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit.\u00a0
Abigail Williams is a producer and reporter for NBC News covering the State Department.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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