NATO Sec’y General: I’d Argue We’ve Never Had Better Relations with U.S. ‘Thanks to President Trump’ Getting People to Pay

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that he would argue that relations between the U.S. and NATO have “never been better, thanks to President Trump.” Because he ended the irritant of disparities in spending.

Host Jake Tapper asked, “Obviously, President Trump’s relationship with NATO has had its ups and downs. How are you feeling about the U.S.-NATO relationship right now?”

Rutte answered, “I would argue it has never been better, thanks to President Trump. Because I know from President Trump 45, when I was still prime minister, he was totally committed to NATO, but he [was] irritated [by] the fact that Europeans and the Canadians were not paying the same as the Americans. At the NATO summit in The Hague, we collectively decided to move to 5%, including 3.5% spent on the core defense spending that equalizes what the Europeans and Canada are doing with what the United States is spending. So, since Eisenhower, so over 70 years, this has been a big pebble in the shoe, a big irritant in the relationship with NATO. President Trump, I think, had one of his biggest foreign policy successes at that NATO summit in The Hague, convincing the other 31 to collectively move to this 5%. And you see it today, the Europeans stepping up when it comes to weapons into Ukraine, buying from America, when it comes to coming together, discussing whatever they can do in terms of security assurances for Ukraine post-the ceasefire/a peace deal. This is all evidence. Europeans are stepping up under President Trump’s leadership.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett