ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Since he started work as NATO secretary-general almost two years ago, Mark Rutte has spent much of his time trying to keep the United States anchored to the world's biggest military alliance, employing outright flattery to dissuade U.S. President Donald Trump from acting on threats to abandon it. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
But the goalposts keep shifting, raising the stakes ahead of this week's summit. Rutte is trying to focus Trump's attention on promises by European allies to increase defense spending, but Trump considers those promises insufficient. At the summit, Rutte will need to present new arguments to convince Trump of the alliance's value.