Press stake-out with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte

Good afternoon, thank you for being available.

We had a very good meeting with the President and with his team, with Secretary Rubio and Secretary Hegseth and Mike Waltz, the national security adviser. Obviously, we discussed Ukraine, but the main emphasis of the meeting was on the NATO Summit coming up in The Hague. And we are really all very excited about the fact that we will see a NATO which is spending so much more on defence, particularly European and Canadian side, more and more making sure that we equalize with what the US is spending. As the Ambassador here (referring to the US Permanent Representative to NATO, Matthew Whitaker) said the other day, it will not be billions, but when you look at it for the years to come, it will be trillions.

This is necessary to make sure that we stay safe. So this is really a NATO which is stronger, which is fairer, which is also more lethal in terms of being able to defend NATO territory. So there was a very good meeting. All very excited, looking forward to The Hague Summit, and as I said, of course, also discussing the situation in Ukraine.

Question:

How do you think NATO's role will change should the US withdraw from discussions about peace in Ukraine?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte:

Well, what I'm seeing here is a United States under the leadership of President Trump, who first broke the deadlock. I think when you look at the outcome of the meeting yesterday in London, we can be quite positive on where we are. So I'm not seeing a situation where the US is walking [away]. I'm seeing a situation where under President Trump's leadership, this could be brought to a positive end. That's very important, and I really want to thank him for that.

Question:

Do you think the Russian president wants to make peace?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte:

I don't know. I worked with him for four years, between 2010 and 2014 when I was Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and I stopped trying to read his mind. [inaudible from the press] You mean President Putin, the Russian president. I worked with him for four years between 2010 and 2014. I stopped trying to read his mind. We'll see. But there is something on the table now I think where the Ukrainians are really playing ball, and I think the ball is clearly in the Russian court now.

Question:

Is it accurate to say that you urged US officials not to pressure Ukraine into accepting a peace deal that favours Russia?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte:

No it's not.

Question:

How much are you encouraging other NATO Allies to spend on their defence? What would you like that percentage to be?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte:

Yes, it has to be considerably higher than this famous 2% which we wanted to achieve by 2024. We have seen in the last couple of days countries like Belgium and Spain and Italy saying we will reach the 2% in time for the Summit. So that's not 2024 but close. But clearly, with 2% we cannot defend NATO territory; it has to be considerably higher. And I've said before, it has to be considerably north of 3% and this is based not on an assumption, but based on careful planning. We know exactly which capabilities we need to reach. We know the gaps there are [to be filled] to keep NATO territory safe. And the good thing is that by spending so much more on the Canadian, European side, it will equalize with what US is paying on its defence. And that means that with Trump 45 what we have seen is now hundreds of billions, now in total, 700 billion spent more on defence, on aggregate. But this will indeed bring in not billions, but trillions more for the coming years.

Question:

Did the President commit to maintaining the level of American troops in Europe as they are now. Did you talk about American presence in military bases there?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte:

As you know, the US has to take care of many theatres, including the Middle East, including the Indo Pacific. And I said before, since President Obama, there has been a pivot towards Asia. The question here is, how do you make sure that the US is capable of making sure that you take care of all these areas, and at the same time that collectively we defend the Euro-Atlantic area? That's exactly what we're working on. So there is a total commitment of the US to NATO, a total commitment to the famous Article 5 – an attack on one is an attack on all. But also clearly a commitment that we have to speed up the spending in Europe, do more ourselves. So that for the US, it's possible for them to spend more time and resources on the Indo-Pacific, and I think it is logical.

Question:

Based upon your conversations that you've had here in Washington, with the Defence secretary, with President Trump, from your take, do they understand the threat that President Putin has on Europe as a whole, not just on Ukraine, but Europe as a whole, even to countries that aren't in NATO, like Moldova.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte:

We all agree in NATO that Russia is a long term threat to NATO territory – to the whole of the Euro-Atlantic territory.

Question:

The President was asked about concessions. Are you aware of any concessions from the Ukrainians or the Russians? And should the Ukrainians be concerned that a deal won't be in their favour?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte:

Well, you know, when you are in peace talks, somehow you have to negotiate. But I think I'm not helping a successful conclusion of these talks – and I really believe that some huge steps have been taken over the last couple of days, and the London meeting yesterday was successful – but I don't think it helps if I start to comment on each pieces and bits of it. It doesn't work. So I'm not going to do that.

Question:

What is your message to the President when it comes to Crimea, in terms of Ukraine keeping that or not? What was your message to the President?

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte:

Again, these talks are ongoing. It doesn't work, and it doesn't help if I'm going to comment on every aspect of talks and what might be on the table or not, so I don't want to do that.

I think we're going. Thank you so much. This was very special. See you next time.