“Who’s your daddy?” is a question that will follow Mark Rutte around for a long time.
The former Dutch prime minister has really had one job since taking over as Nato secretary general: Keep Donald Trump onside and the western military alliance intact.
Trump has publicly wondered about the usefulness of the Nato alliance since his first term, when he regularly criticised European members as freeloaders who didn’t spend enough on their own defence.
The refusal of European allies to join his ill-advised military adventure in Iran has him talking about the United States’ future in the alliance again. “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM,” he wrote on Truth Social.
At the core of the alliance is its common defence clause, known as article five, which considers an attack on one member an attack on all.
Eastern European states view the US-backed security guarantee as invaluable protection against a future Russian attack.
The worry is that a capricious Trump might declare US commitments to come to the aid of a Nato ally will be conditional, not automatic, hollowing out the weight of that deterrence in the time it takes to fire off a tweet.
Whatever about his methods, Rutte has demonstrated a knack for talking Trump down from the ledge. The Dutch politician’s strategy has been to heap public praise on the US president, and sometimes to chide European governments.
It has been cringe-inducing at times. “Daddy has to sometimes use strong language,” Rutte said of Trump during a key Nato summit in The Hague last year.
He was widely mocked for calling the US president “daddy”. For many it summed up the Nato chief’s uncomfortable policy of always kowtowing to the White House.
Rutte made the remark in response to Trump describing Iran and Israel as two bickering children. He has since said he meant to say “father” and blamed his poor turn of phrase on the fact he is not a native English speaker.
Trump’s determination to plunge transatlantic relations to new lows has put the secretary general in an awkward position. Rutte seems to be okay torching his own reputation to keep Washington engaged in Nato. It’s almost admirable in a way.
[ Nato split over US access to European basesOpens in new window ]
The view inside Nato circles is that Rutte’s approach of lavishing praise on Trump and keeping criticism to a minimum has been effective so far.
The former prime minister was given the credit by Trump for taking the heat out of the Greenland crisis. Trump appears happy to give the Nato chief a “win” in circumstances where he wouldn’t accept being seen to concede ground to any other European leader.
Rutte has become a pretty crucial backchannel in the strained relationship as a result. The understanding inside Nato is that he has latitude to speak frankly to Trump off camera.
They know each other from his first stint in the White House. Rutte, who was prime minister of the Netherlands from 2010 to 2024, was nicknamed the “Trump whisperer” for his ability to cut through to the president when others couldn’t.
That’s important at a time when elected European leaders are conscious that being seen as overly pally with Trump could backfire domestically.
Trump loves to be told how great he is and that’s not something many European prime ministers or presidents are willing to do publicly.
Spain’s left-wing prime minister Pedro Sánchez has bet on their now being a political dividend from standing up and vocally criticising the US administration.
It’s clear the US threats about taking Greenland changed things. The energy crisis gripping Europe thanks to Trump’s decision to strike Iran has further hardened attitudes.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was established in the aftermath of the second World War to act as a military counterweight to the Soviet Union. It includes the US, most European countries, Canada and Turkey. Ireland, a neutral state, is not part of the alliance.
“Nato without the United States is not Nato any more,” one former European diplomat said. The former ambassador, whose brief covered the transatlantic relationship, said Europe needed to keep the marriage from breaking apart. “You cannot suddenly cut off that security relationship,” he said.
Promises by Europe’s Nato members to spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence and security – a huge increase – placated Trump for only a few months. Officials are cautiously laying the groundwork for a Nato summit in Turkey in July, but who knows where everything will stand by then?