Exclusive-NATO’s Rutte ‘not deaf’ to criticism of his Trump praise, offers more

By Andrew Gray

BRUSSELS, March 5 (Reuters) – NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Thursday he was “not deaf” to criticism that he goes overboard in praising Donald Trump but argued the U.S. president deserved it.

However, in an interview with Reuters, Rutte also offered praise for Spain – a target of Trump’s ire for refusing to allow U.S. military bases on its soil to be used in the American-Israeli assault on Iran.

Rutte, a Dutch former prime minister, was selected to lead NATO partly due to his strong bond with Trump, which diplomats say has helped keep the military alliance together despite the U.S. president’s criticism of the organisation and its members.

But some officials, analysts and commentators have accused Rutte of going over the top in lavishing praise on Trump, arguing it is demeaning to Europe and downplays the continent’s ability to defend itself.

“I hear the criticism, obviously. I’m not deaf,” Rutte said in the interview at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

‘DADDY’ COMMENT MADE HEADLINES AT NATO SUMMIT

Famously, at a NATO summit, Rutte likened Trump to a “daddy” intervening in last year’s conflict between Israel and Iran.

Most recently, he has offered strong backing for the new U.S.-Israeli military action against Iran, even though leaders of some NATO nations such as Spain and Turkey have been critical of the intervention and some others have not endorsed it.

In the interview, Rutte said Trump had played a crucial role in getting NATO allies to agree a new spending target of 5% of GDP last year, composed of 3.5% on core defence and 1.5% on broader security-related spending.

The previous NATO target was to spend 2% of GDP on core defence.

Rutte also called the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran “decisive action to take out this capability of Iran to pose a threat as an exporter of terrorism and chaos to the Middle East, to Europe, to the world”.

TRUMP DESERVES PRAISE FOR LEADERSHIP, RUTTE SAYS

“I think if a president of a country is … providing that type of leadership, some praise is warranted,” he said.

On Tuesday, Trump threatened to impose a ​full U.S. trade embargo on Spain due to the row over the military bases and also renewed criticism of Madrid for not signing up to the 5% defence spending target.

Asked about the spat between Trump and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Rutte offered praise for Spain’s contribution to NATO.

“Their troops are part of many foreign land forces, many initiatives, many NATO missions. I really want to commend them for that,” he said.

In response to a question about whether he had spoken to Trump and Sanchez to lower the tension between them, Rutte said: “When there are debates between allies, I always try to stay a bit muted, and therefore being able, if necessary, to help a bit.”

(Reporting by Andrew Gray, Editing by William Maclean)