NATO boss is the ‘right man in the right time’ to deal with Trump, Portugal’s FM says

BRUSSELS — Mark Rutte, NATO’s new secretary-general, is capable of “building bridges” with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel told POLITICO ahead of a meeting of alliance foreign ministers this week.

Rutte “is the right man in the right time,” he said. Rutte had a reputation as a “Trump whisperer” when he was Dutch prime minister during Trump’s first presidential term.

The new NATO boss has already been to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump and, according to two diplomats, told EU defense ministers at a recent meeting that rather than talking about Trump they should be speaking with him.

Trump has long complained that many NATO allies are free-riding on the U.S. and not spending enough on defense. There is growing talk that the alliance should boost its goal for members to spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense to 3 percent.

Portugal spends only 1.55 percent of its GDP on the military, but has agreed to hit the 2 percent target in 2029 instead of its earlier promise of 2030.

“We are doing a big effort to achieve the 2 percent in the year 2029 to give a sign that we are committed to this effort: reinforcing defense,” Rangel said from his office in Lisbon.

If NATO ups its target, Portugal is “open to consider that,” Rangel said, adding: “We have to also prepare ourselves for this type of new demands.”

Defense spending will be one of the issues on the table when ministers meet in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as support for Ukraine and Kyiv’s call to be invited to join the alliance.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha will brief ministers, while Jordan’s King Abdullah II will talk about the Middle East.

The NATO ministerial meeting comes at a time of enormous political change. Trump is weeks away from returning as U.S president, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Olaf Scholz are politically weakened, while a new European Commission is taking office.

“There is a new cycle, and this new cycle is not only related [to] a new American administration, but also [to] the new secretary-general and the new high representative of the European Union [Kaja Kallas],” Rangel said.