Mark Rutte is the secretary-general of NATO. At the alliance's summit in The Hague on June 24th–25th 2025, he employed a strategy of flattery towards Donald Trump, texting the president: "Donald, you have driven us to a really, really important moment for America and Europe and the world." Trump promptly screen-shotted the message and posted it publicly. The next day, responding to Trump's description of Israel and Iran as children, Mr Rutte referred to the president as "Daddy." Diplomats at the summit were divided over whether the strategy was degrading or inspired. He declared afterwards: "For me, there is absolute clarity that the United States is totally committed to NATO…totally committed to Article Five."
On December 11th 2025, amid growing European alarm over war readiness, Mr Rutte warned that "we must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured."
Mr Rutte has warned that the new spending plans required a 400% increase in air and missile-defence systems, provoking an "audible gasp in the room" of military planners. He cautioned against a "hockey stick" approach in which allies spend all the money in the last year or two.
On January 21st 2026 Mr Rutte and Donald Trump announced "the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland", defusing a crisis over Trump's threatened tariffs on eight NATO members that had sent troops to Greenland. The deal's details were left to J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio to work out.
Mr Rutte has refused to admit the transatlantic alliance is close to falling apart, insisting that America is "completely committed to NATO, completely committed to Article 5". He has banned any discussion of a "Plan B" within NATO headquarters in case America were to pull out.
When childhood dies, its corpses are called adults.