NATO's Leader Has One Big Strength and Weakness: How He Talks to Trump

NATO’s leader Mark Rutte is navigating a high-stakes relationship with President Trump as the alliance faces fresh pressure. The article describes how Rutte met Trump in January amid Trump’s vow to take Greenland from Denmark and his refusal to rule out force, a scenario that threatened NATO’s cohesion. During the meeting, Rutte told Trump that NATO could not help if he sought to “become an owner of Greenland,” but said NATO could focus on security. He outlined existing or planned NATO exercises in Greenland and framed them as a new Arctic mission, and Trump temporarily backed away from threats. Behind the scenes, sources say Danish officials were irritated by debates over whether the U.S. could control land beneath American bases in Greenland, which they viewed as a sovereignty red line. The article notes Rutte will meet Trump again on Wednesday as U.S. policy turns more volatile, including plans to pull a third of NATO-provided fighter jets in an emergency and a six-month U.S. review of troop deployments in Europe. A NATO spokeswoman stated Rutte did not discuss or propose ally sovereignty changes.