Secretary of State Marco Rubio is due to travel to Sweden on Friday to meet with European counterparts and Greenland is set to be on the agenda.
Rutte’s strong relationship with Trump has persisted throughout splintering ties
Rutte’s interactions with the President—and the results they appear to yield—have helped earn him the moniker of “Trump whisperer.”
The NATO chief took a measured response earlier this year amid heightened tensions between Trump and European allies after the U.S. President renewed his efforts to annex Greenland.
While the NATO chief largely avoided commenting specifically on the threat to Greenland, he showed support for Trump’s concerns over Arctic security—an argument the President made when pushing his stance.
“When it comes to the Arctic, I think President Trump is right, other leaders in NATO are right: we need to defend the Arctic. We know that the sea lanes are opening up. We know that China and Russia are increasingly active in the Arctic,” Rutte said.