US President-elect Donald Trump has met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Palm Beach, Florida, where they held a series of talks on NATO security challenges.
Rutte took advantage of the meeting – which had not been previously announced – to also meet with Congressman Mike Waltz, who was recently appointed by Trump as White House National Security Advisor, according to a NATO statement.
Sources close to the matter have informed US media that the talks have focused mainly on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the defence capacity of the Alliance’s member states, among other issues.
During the election campaign, Trump stressed increasing defence spending for NATO to 3 percent of GDP, as well as promising that he would end the war in just 24 hours once he took office.
However, leaders of some member countries have expressed concern about the return to the White House of the New York tycoon, whose policies during his first term were already controversial.
This is the first meeting between Rutte and Trump since the latter won the presidential elections held in early November in the United States.
