Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte is set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House, seeking to ease tensions over the Iran war and US threats to draw down troops in Europe ahead of a pivotal Nato leaders summit in July in Ankara, Reuters reports.
Trump, a longtime Nato critic who has called the alliance a “paper tiger,” has been angered by its reluctance to support the US in the Middle East conflict or help reopen the Strait of Hormuz after a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28 disrupted the major oil shipping route.
“I expect he is trying to get on the same page with Trump to make sure that the Nato summit is a success or not a wipeout,” said Stephen Wertheim, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank.
“The Nato summit carries a potential for significant risk because Trump is upset and erratic, and even if Rutte comes and thinks he has an understanding with Trump, who knows what two weeks later will bring,” Wertheim said.
