Just a number of days in the past, European leaders have been scrambling to reply to US President Donald Trump’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric about taking control of Greenland, and bracing for an avalanche of insults as he arrived to talk on their dwelling turf.
As anticipated, Trump slammed European officers on a wide range of points, as he spoke at Davos in the Swiss Alps. But he additionally dominated out utilizing drive to annex the Danish territory he covets, reducing the temperature on a difficulty that threatened the way forward for the NATO army alliance.
He then went one step additional in a gathering with NATO chief Mark Rutte – asserting afterward that they’d reached an settlement on a potential deal on Greenland, and that he would no longer impose tariffs on European nations against his ambitions to accumulate the Arctic island.
It’s not but clear what’s included within the framework, or Rutte’s precise position within the negotiations. But Trump’s beautiful about-turn has as soon as once more shone the highlight on the NATO secretary general, who has emerged as a pivotal determine for a frazzled Europe struggling to get by means of to the US president.
At first look, they make an unlikely pair. Rutte, a mild-mannered technocrat, is the Netherlands’ longest-serving prime minister, having concluded a 14-year tenure that displays his pragmatism and talent to forge consensus on thorny points. He’s additionally identified for his easygoing, relaxed picture, using a motorcycle to work even when working the nation.
Trump, in the meantime, is a former actual property mogul and TV character identified for his unorthodox strikes and an inclination towards unilateralism – traits which have upended international politics for a lot of the previous decade.
But their relationship goes again years. As Dutch chief from 2010 to 2024, Rutte made a number of visits to Washington, DC, throughout Trump’s first time period, laying the bottom for a appeal offensive that seems to have served him – and the army alliance he now heads – nicely.
The 58-year-old’s most famous act of Trump-soothing diplomacy got here at a NATO assembly final yr. After the US president used an expletive in response to hostilities between Israel and Iran, after which the analogy of two kids combating to explain their lethal battle, Rutte joked in entrance of the world’s cameras: “Daddy has to sometimes use strong language.”
The change immediately went viral, making headlines and prompting incredulity from viewers. It seems to have caught with Trump, too – talking at Davos on Wednesday, he stated at one level, “They called me ‘Daddy,’ right? Last time. A very smart man said, ‘He’s our Daddy.’”
Rutte has publicly praised Trump on different issues – the US strikes on Iran, Trump’s efforts to finish the warfare between Russia and Ukraine, and even the president’s stress marketing campaign on European nations to step up their protection spending.
The flattery prolonged to their non-public textual content messages – which Trump has shared on social media a number of instances.
“Mr President, Dear Donald. What you accomplished today in Syria is incredible,” Rutte wrote in a latest message that Trump posted to Truth Social late Monday night time, forward of his arrival in Davos. Rutte ended with a chummy sign-off: “Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark.”
Similarly, earlier than final yr’s NATO summit (scene of the “Daddy” incident), Rutte texted Trump: “You will achieve something NO American president in decades could get done.”
These exchanges have raised eyebrows on his dwelling continent. Rutte has acknowledged these criticisms; at a panel about European protection on Wednesday, he told the Davos audience, “I’m not popular with you now because I’m defending Donald Trump, but I really believe we can be happy that he is there.”
Many different leaders have tried to earn diplomatic wins by cultivating a private relationship with Trump. Finnish President Alex Stubb and the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe each bonded with Trump over rounds of golf. French President Emmanuel Macron had additionally shaped a bromance with Trump – although that seems to now be souring.
Rutte “knows that personal relationships go a long way with this administration,” Torrey Taussig, a senior fellow on the Atlantic Council and a former NATO coverage adviser on the Pentagon, told NCS last year.
The Finnish president additionally appeared to nod to this technique final yr; he dodged questions on Rutte’s messaging round Trump, however supplied: “Diplomacy has so many different forms.”
And, as obsequious as this method could seem to his critics, it could convey actual positive factors – as latest summits have proven.
Last yr’s NATO summit ended with members unanimously agreeing to spice up spending to post-Cold War highs, a coverage swap credited to Trump.
And this week’s Davos discussion board could have averted a potential commerce warfare between Europe and the US, which had spooked inventory markets and raised existential fears about NATO’s future.
Details on the Greenland framework are scant. But Rutte didn’t suggest any “compromise” on Danish sovereignty throughout his assembly with Trump, a NATO spokesperson advised NCS on Thursday.
And in a Fox News interview, Rutte stated the talks centered on safety within the Arctic. “We basically discussed how can we implement the president’s vision on protecting, yes, Greenland, but of course this – not only Greenland – this whole Arctic,” he added.
But Europe and NATO should not out of the woods but. Although Trump ruled out using military force to accumulate Greenland in his Davos speech, he reiterated his demand for management over the island.
Negotiations between Greenland, Denmark and the US will “go forward,” a NATO spokesperson stated; in the meantime, European Union leaders will nonetheless meet for an emergency summit on Thursday.
Through all this, the Dutchman on the middle of it has stayed tight-lipped – solely saying he’d had a “very good meeting” with Trump. When pressed for extra info, he once more deferred to the American president.
“Read the Truth Social post,” he advised journalists.