Rutte tries to maintain NATO union despite the tension of partners over tariffs

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has had to make colossal efforts to keep the Atlantic Alliance out of the discussions on the abrupt introduction of tariffs on products from all over the world, without distinguishing the allies. This Friday he closed the two-day meeting of foreign ministers whose main result can be said to have been that for now the organization has survived these tensions, although several ministers privately acknowledged that…

The head of the Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte, strives to minimize differences and avoid all controversial issues. Read more: Rubio assures that the United States will remain in NATO but demands to increase military spending to 5%

The NATO founding treaty provides, in Article 2, that allied states must avoid economic conflicts among themselves.

According to Mark Rutte, the issue of tariffs should be separated from NATO's defense objectives. The unity of the alliance is not threatened by trade disputes.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte believes that the trade war should not "interfer" the debate on the need to invest in defense to reinforce the deterrence of the alliance, despite the potential devastating effect on the economy that the global tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump may have. Continue reading....

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte does not want to speculate about the possible consequences of the announced US tariffs and corresponding countermeasures on the Alliance's defense spending. It is always an issue when the money you had expected doesn't come in, said Rutte on Friday after a NATO foreign minister meeting in Brussels. “For example, gross domestic product is not growing as previously stated and so on.” However, these are questions t…