Brussels bets on Rutte’s humility to ease transatlantic tensions

After US President Donald Trump branded European allies “cowards” for refusing to back US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Brussels is betting on NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s strategic humility to steady relations with the White House and buy time.

Rutte arrived in Washington on Wednesday for closed-door meetings with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. He is due to remain in the US through Sunday.

Following the first round of talks, Rutte sought to play down tensions, brushing aside Trump’s renewed threats to withdraw from the alliance while praising what he called a “transformational legacy” in pushing allies to raise defence spending.

“This was a very frank, very open discussion – but also one between two good friends,” Rutte told CNN.

Trump struck a more combative tone, writing on Truth Social: “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!!”

Strategic humility

The former Dutch prime minister has earned credit in Brussels for defusing earlier flashpoints, including tensions over Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland. His approach, a mix of flattery and careful de-escalation, has been tolerated by European capitals as the price of keeping Washington engaged.

“That makes him comfortable saying things others might find cringe-worthy or a bit much,” the diplomat added. “But you don’t hear many European leaders criticising it”.

Paul Taylor, senior visiting fellow at the Brussels-based think tank the European Policy Centre, agrees.

“Europeans were prepared to tolerate Rutte’s obsequious flattery of Trump to the extent that it keeps the US engaged,” he said.

“Under extremely difficult circumstances, he has overall done a very good job,” said another EU diplomat.

Still, the task is becoming harder.

“He’s straddling two sides of the Atlantic while they are moving in different directions,” Taylor said, referring to ongoing spats on anything from tech, defence and energy policy that have torn Washington and Brussels apart.

And for that reason, Brussels has been willing to cut Rutte some slack. Where once NATO’s secretary-general could rely on Washington’s strategic baseline, Rutte must now actively manage it – often in public, and often on Trump’s terms.

According to Taylor, that approach has kept the US in the alliance. In February, Elbridge Colby, the US under secretary of defence for policy, promised a continued Washington presence in Europe while calling for recalibration of responsibilities within the alliance.

That, Taylor argues, was the best the Europeans could have hoped for. Whether events in Iran might have tipped the scales is yet to be seen.

Trust in Article 5

The transatlantic fallout over Iran might have weakened NATO’s ultimate weapon – its mutual defence clause – no matter how unfair European capitals might find it.

Trump “never asked NATO to do anything. Secondly, he never consulted NATO about the war. Thirdly, this is a war which by nature NATO cannot engage in because it was a war of aggression,” said Taylor.

But while Trump openly threatened to pull the US out of the alliance altogether, few in Brussels believe he would follow through.

“Alliances rely on trust, and if you cast doubt on commitments every day, you weaken them. That is the real transatlantic shift here,” former British Army paratrooper Andrew Fox wrote on his Substack.

Transatlantic trust has suffered, an EU diplomat acknowledged, adding that it is being undermined by Trump’s remarks, such as his threats to withdraw.

Yet the diplomat noted that “there are still around 80,000 US troops in Europe and no discussion about removing them.”

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