Rutte flew in Florida with a Dutch government aircraft to meet the future president of the United States, as the Dutch media announced. According to public television NOSRutte, former Dutch prime minister, used a Dutch government plane to reach the airport Palm Beachclose to the resort Mar-a-Lago of Trump. There BORN is covering the cost of the flight, as the Alliance does not have its own plane for the Secretary General’s trips and regularly uses Member States’ planes for travel.
The reason for the trip was to meet with Trumpwho was very critical of theAtlantic Alliance during his first term and will be inaugurated as the new president of the United States at the end of January. The NATO chief has already said he exchanged text messages with the republican and claimed that during his first term, when Rutte was Dutch prime minister, cooperation between the two “It was positive”.
Trumpwho governed the USA between 2017 and 2021, he was highly critical of NATO during his first term and criticized NATO partnersAtlantic Alliance because they don’t spend enough on it collective defense. During the last election campaign, he even suggested that he would encourage Russia to do what he wants with European countries that do not increase defense spending and, furthermore, he has questioned the sending of US military aid toUkraine.