NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is in Washington for a three-day visit amid growing tension between the United States and the alliance. President Donald Trump met Rutte privately at the White House, and things did not go well. The root of Trump’s anger is NATO’s refusal to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route that Iran effectively closed after the US and Israel launched a military campaign against Iran on February 28.
Major European nations like France and Germany refused to send naval forces, with Germany’s defense minister stating plainly, “This is not our war; we have not started it.” A day after the White House meeting, Rutte appeared at the Ronald Reagan Institute, where a reporter asked him whether he still considered Trump “daddy.” The question stems from a moment at the NATO summit in June 2025, when Trump compared Israel and Iran to “two kids in a schoolyard.”
