Exclusive: Trump’s secretive Florida meeting with NATO’s new Secretary General
We ask what the incoming President discussed with the new, Dutch, EU-loving, NATO boss
and why neither of them talked about it
We ask what the incoming President discussed with the new, Dutch, EU-loving, NATO boss
and why neither of them talked about it
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2025
In 14 years as Dutch PM, Rutte never got close to NATO’s defence spend minimum – could this explain things?
On 22 November last year, just 10 days after President-elect Trump had nominated his new National Security Advisor, NATO’s new boss Mark Rutte flew out to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach Florida for a meeting.
Neither man is known for being publicity shy, they each tweet out regularly about the meetings they have, and yet neither of them put out a word about this meeting between the soon-to-be Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful armed forces in the world and the Secretary General of the most powerful defence alliance in the world. It was as if the meeting had never taken place.
One of the most important global defence meetings suffers near-news blackout
It is difficult to imagine a more important meeting about western defence than that between an incoming US President (and Commander-in-Chief) and a new NATO Secretary General.
Nonetheless, a cloak seems to have descended over this meeting. NATO's press release confirmed it took place, but that was it. In this Facts4EU report, which we have shared with our friends at CIBUK and GB News, we reveal what we have discovered.
The usual NATO
Sec-Gen ‘X’ stream
The 2 meetings before
and after Trump meeting
The black hole
in between
NATO's Secretary General flew out to Florida on 22 Nov for a meeting with President-elect Trump
This is Part II in our series ahead of Donald Trump becoming the 47th President of the United States on Monday. Given President-elect Trump’s comments to the press last week about European defence, readers may wish to know more about what is sure to be an interesting and potentially difficult relationship which will play out over the next four years. Facts4EU.Org explores the background which may help to explain the ‘radio silence’ about this critical meeting. We also reveal some facts which we believe will shock most readers.
A Brexit Facts4EU.Org Pre-Trump Mini-Series
Trump, defence, and the EU - battlelines drawn
Part I - Even before Monday’s Inauguration, the EU's £½ TRILLION underspend on defence is on Trump’s mind
Part II (This report) - Exclusive : President Trump’s secretive Florida meeting with NATO’s new Secretary General
Part III - President Trump’s Belles and Beaux of the Ball – Which British and European celebs are going?
Part IV - In 14 years as Dutch PM, Rutte never once spent close to the NATO minimum on defence
Trump meets the new NATO General Secretary – here’s what we know
Mark Rutte flew out to meet President-elect Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home on 22 November 2024. We know this because the meeting was trailed by NATO in advance. It involved a transatlantic return flight, as Secretary General Rutte had to come back to fly to Turkey to meet President Erdogan on Monday – just four days later. All we have is the traditional handshake photo and a few words.
Following the Palm Beach meeting, NATO issued what can only be described as a perfunctory note, which forms the public 'official record':
“NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with President-elect Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida on Friday. They discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance.
“The Secretary General and his team also met with Congressman Mike Waltz and members of the President-elect’s national security team.”
Press releases following meetings of this nature – even when they did not go well – tend to contain more information about the topics discussed at the very least. This one did not. Facts4EU.Org contacted NATO for an explanation, but despite chasing them they have failed to respond.
Donald Trump did not mention the meeting at all on his own website.
So, Trump was silent, NATO was curt, what about the garrulous Rutte?
Every time he meets foreign Leaders, Mark Rutte tweets out something positive, with an all-smiling photo. (A small selection can be seen left and right.) On this occasion he tweeted on the 19th about a top-level EU meeting and he tweeted on the 25th after a meeting with Turkey’s President Ergodan. However, about his meeting on the 22nd with the man who is about to become once again the most powerful man on earth, he tweeted nothing at all.
In the 30 days from 15 Nov to 15 Dec, the NATO Secretary General held 20 face-to-face meetings with Leaders across numerous countries and had three phone meetings. He tweeted about them all…… bar one. And that was the one with the soon-to-be Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful armed forces in the world.
It is not as if Mark Rutte said far less than would be expected, it is that he didn’t mention it at all - as though the meeting in Palm Beach had never taken place. The big question is: “Why?”
Finally, we turned to decorated special forces veteran, Congressman Mike Waltz, Trump’s nominated National Security Adviser
Republican Congressman Col. Mike Waltz is Trump’s nomination for National Security Adviser (NSA). The NSA is one of the few senior roles which does not require Congressional approval and therefore he will take up his role on Monday. A former Green Beret involved in many special forces operations, with four Bronze Stars of which two were for valour, Colonel Waltz is perhaps the antithesis of Mark Rutte. We understand that on his flying visit Rutte met with Waltz, but once again there was no formal recognition of this.
Waltz’s post on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) after his meeting with Mr Rutte was in reply to a query from an NBC news correspondent, saying : “A strong NATO that restores deterrence and peace requires all member nations to do their part commensurate with their economic strength!”
That’s the three key participants plus a major international treaty organisation – all silent about the meeting.
Who is Mark Rutte, the new Secretary-General of NATO?
Apart from being PM of the relatively small EU country of the Netherlands (pop.: 18m), Mr Rutte is an ardent Europhile, strongly in favour of the EU. His attributes to be appointed Secretary-General of NATO – the most important defence alliance in the western world - are : -
- He has no experience of defence
- He has never served in the Dutch armed forces
- He has never served as any form of defence minister, junior or senior
- His commercial experience prior to politics is limited to working in human resources
Mark Rutte was Prime Minister of the Netherlands for nearly 14 years, until his latest four-party coalition government fell apart in 2023.
A general election followed in November, in which Rutte himself did not stand. With its PR electoral system it took many months of bickering before a new coalition was formed, and Rutte stayed put as ‘caretaker’ PM until then.
The winner of the election was the right-wing, anti-immigration Geert Wilders, a Trump ally, although the Dutch people ended up with a technocrat Prime Minister whom no-one had heard of but who was apparently acceptable to the leading parties.
Wilders agreed to this in order to form an anti-immigration government.
The NATO Secretary General’s EU leanings
The majority of Mark Rutte’s tweets are about the EU rather than NATO. Here he is in typical EU form on Monday this week (13 Jan 2025) at the EU Parliament.
“Given the challenges we face it is ever more important that NATO and EU work even more closely together.”
”Good to address parliamentarians on how NATO and the EU must work hand-in-hand …. We face many challenges to our security and can address them best by working together.”
The new Secretary General is firmly for the EU. While Prime Minister of the Netherlands for 14 years, Mark Rutte was one of those EU27 leaders who approved the advancement of the EU’s Common Security Policy and the establishment of an EU Military Command and Control structure.
Dutch land forces are now effectively under German command
Readers might wish to read our sub-heading again. It sounds incredible but this is the reality. The process started in the late 1990s and by 2023 had accelerated with the final Brigade being transferred. Here is how the German Federal Defence Ministry announced it :
“With this assignment of the Netherlands' 13th Light Brigade, all of the Netherlands' field army brigades will be under the command of Germany's 10th Armoured Division.”
- German Federal Defence Ministry, 27 Mar 2023
All of this was concluded under Mark Rutte’s watch. As Dutch Prime Minister, NATO’s Secretary General effectively surrendered his own country's army, in peacetime, to a foreign power.
NATO’s HQ is conveniently located in Brussels, home to the EU’s HQ
© NATO 2025 - click to enlarge
The Alliance moved into a massive purpose-built new, headquarters building in Brussels in 2018. It has 250,000 m2 (2,700,000 sq ft) of floor space and houses 3,800 staff. After huge overruns the total cost came in at the eye-watering cost of €1.1bn euros.
There is no question any longer of the EU’s military ambitions. It has operated on the basis of advancement by stealth, as is the case with so many of the power grabs in many areas of people’s lives. What was once left to national governments – or in the case of multi-national alliances such as NATO, to a grouping dedicated to something which requires nations to work together - is now deemed to be an appropriate area for the EU to take over the lead role.
Coming up in Part III
In Part III we look at exactly how much support the Netherlands gave to NATO during Mr Rutte's 14 years as Prime Minister there. We also explore Mr Rutte's views on EU defence generally, in relation to the bloc's plans for its own army.
Observations
Given that NATO will not discuss this with us, we can only speculate about why details of this important meeting have not been forthcoming. If this had merely been an oversight, why did it afflict all participants and why are NATO headquarters in Brussels apparently disinclined to talk to us about it?
In general, we dislike speculation but in this case there are some possible answers. If President-elect Trump was particularly harsh toward the EU-loving NATO General Secretary in his criticism of the EU's low levels of defence spending over so many years, the meeting may well have been 'feisty'. Perhaps no form of words could be found to present it as some form of 'constructive dialogue' having taken place.
It is also possible President Trump is aware of Mark Rutte's own performance while PM of the Netherlands for 14 years. Not only did he fail to raise Dutch defence spending above an average of 1.3% (against a minimum floor of 2%) over the past 10 years, he was also PM during the period that the last of the Dutch Army brigades was transferred to the command of the German Army. It is inconceivable that Trump would have agreed to anything remotely similar in respect of US forces.
In an effort to present all sides, it is just possible that a detailed discussion did take place and that the contents were very sensitive and therefore 'Most Secret'. Our concern is that if this were the case, why draw attention to this by saying nothing? Why not agree an anodyne form of words for both sides?
Coming up in Part III
In Part III we look in more detail at how the Dutch did as a member of NATO, when Mark Rutte was in overall charge of that country. Once again we will reveal some extraordinary details - one of which in particular will amaze readers, we are sure. Not to be missed!
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[ Sources: NATO | Mark Rutte | Col Mike Waltz | President-elect Trump | German Federal Defence Ministry ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 16 Jan 2025
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