Rutte and Trump: brown-nosing or diplomatic brilliance?

In the last year, there’s been headline after headline detailing NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s continued flattery of POTUS Donald Trump. 

NATO’s Dutch leader has found a way to communicate with Trump: praise, bordering on slijmen (sucking up) as we say in Dutch.

There seems to be strategy in the sweet talk: just yesterday, Rutte managed to rein in Trump’s threats of military action in Greenland, hailing him as the ultimate “Trump whisperer,” reports ABC News.

But how long can this go on?

Rutte and Trump pre-NATO

Their chummy relationship certainly isn’t a new phenomenon — Rutte and his pal go way back, all the way to 2016, when Trump was first elected to the White House. 

At the time, when Rutte was still Prime Minister of the Netherlands, their interactions were driven by a need for cooperation between the two nations. 

While Trump has never been one for the status quo in international trade relations, a joint statement from both leaders at their first official meeting in 2018 described an “unbroken, peaceful relationship.”

Furthermore, they agreed in 2018 that “the NATO Alliance remains the cornerstone of their common security,” a very different tune to the one being sung by Trump today. 

Rutte was even, on occasion, able to say no to Trump: 

As his responsibilities were vastly different between his time as the Netherlands PM and his current role as NATO Secretary General, though, it’s not surprising that their relationship has changed. 

Alas, no one expected it to change into a festival of excessive flattery…

Appointment to NATO: A big responsibility 

When Rutte was initially appointed as NATO Secretary General in 2024, it was celebrated by many here in the Netherlands. 

Vandaag start Mark Rutte als secretaris-generaal van de NAVO. Wij wensen hem veel succes. 💪 https://t.co/0uRidcHae4

— VVD (@VVD) October 1, 2024

A former Dutch PM in such a prominent position of power is bound to stir up at least some pride, after all. It seems, however, that he was in part chosen for his ability to please NATO’s well-resourced prima donna (the US). 

As reported by NOS at the time, he was “the preferred candidate of the US, the most important NATO partner.” 

While it wasn’t a given then (June 2024) that Trump would win the presidential election, it’s clear that appeasing the US is part of the job description. 

READ MORE| From calling Trump “Daddy” to increased defence spending: Here’s what happened at the NATO Summit

But has Rutte taken this too far?

Trump 2.0: a new ballgame 

Since he’s returned to the US presidency, Trump has (no pun intended) waged his own war against NATO. 

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At the 2025 summit, he made it abundantly clear that US membership in the alliance is by no means a guarantee, demanding increased defence spending from other member nations.  

More recently, his insistence on a US takeover of Greenland has deeply undermined NATO’s collective defence tenet. 

Clearly, the things once considered constants in the organisation are now up for debate. 

So, no one is saying Rutte has an easy job; managing Trump’s rollercoaster of changes in international defence policy is certainly difficult and unwanted.  

However, Rutte’s reliance on flattery to appease Trump has struck a sour note among European leaders and citizens 

President Emmanuel Macron of France, for instance, said on Tuesday that the French “prefer respect” over “bullies,” reports Reuters. 

Mixed reactions to Rutte’s strategy

Some have championed Rutte’s “negotiating skills”. 

As written by journalist Jan Driessen in an opinion piece for De Trouw, Rutte’s “pandering isn’t a weakness, but a means to an end,” and that we should not “mistake his soft communication for weakness.” 

READ MORE | Netherlands receives invitation to ‘peace council’ and a copy of Trump’s wild letter to Norway

Indeed, it’s possible Rutte’s sweetness toward Trump is just about running out the clock with as little damage as possible: appeasing Trump while he’s in office and keeping NATO intact could be a way to minimise his impact overall. 

But this is a risky approach, as several European leaders have acknowledged. 

Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, for instance, wrote earlier this week in a piece for The Economist that “enough is enough,” and that European NATO members must “play Trump’s game of strength,” in order to beat him at his own game.

Online commentators have also weighed in: 

Does Danish sovereignty still matter?

The most recent meeting between Trump and Rutte in Switzerland resulted in the announcement of a “framework” for a deal on US involvement in Greenland, the BBC reports. 

But while a military takeover has seemingly been ruled out by Trump, his continued insistence on “owning” the island pushes at a boundary that Europe is unwilling to cross: sovereignty. 

Even after the framework announcement, Rutte surprisingly said that the issue of Danish sovereignty didn’t come up in their discussion. 

While Rutte may be keeping the peace (if you can call it that), the cost could be steep. 

Believe it or not, the Danish Greenlanders haven’t taken kindly to the possibility of their country’s home-governance being traded like candy. 

On the other hand, losing US support for Ukraine would be disastrous for the ravaged country — and potentially catastrophic for the EU. 

So, one might ask, why hasn’t Rutte publicly negotiated the terms of this latest development with more backbone?

Rutte may have entered into Trump’s good graces with sugary compliments, but now that his foot is in the door, he hasn’t changed his approach. 

As circumstances grow more serious, however, this strategy has become increasingly untenable.

In the end, there is more to the NATO-US relationship than keeping Trump happy. 

What do you think of Rutte’s negotiating tactics? Let us know in the comments.