Discussion on NATO and Trump Policies

Mark, you sit next to Donald Trump in moments where he talks about conquering Greenland,

talks about lashing out at allies like Spain, starting trade wars, things that it doesn't

seem like the old Mark Rutte would approve of.

Does this have any effect on your self-respect when you sit next to him like that and say

nothing?

You know, what I always do is acknowledge when praise is due, and I think we should

praise Donald Trump for the fact that NATO is so much stronger.

Of course it has to do with the Russian threat, it has to do with the war in Ukraine, but

it very much also has to do with President Trump delivering now what since Eisenhower

the United States tried to achieve, equalizing spending between the U.S. and Europe.

And it makes Europe stronger, it makes Europe more relevant for the United States as a partner.

So that is the transformative character of this summit, of what happened in The Hague,

the implementation since The Hague, this summit as a point in time where we take stock.

And I think that is extremely important.

And when it comes to Greenland, I already explained, we had the meeting in Davos.

And I said, I agree with you when it comes to Russia, when it comes to China, gaining

access to the High North, but let's do this together.

We have NATO for this, let's work together on this.

This is exactly what we are doing.