Rutte to convince Trump to stay in NATO at crucial White House meeting

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will have to convince President Trump that US interests are best served as a leading member of the transatlantic alliance when he visits the White House today.

The US will be pushing NATO allies to focus on their obligation to defend themselves without relying on US support, according to a US source.

President Trump has long pushed for NATO countries to spend more on defence and has threatened to pull US support for members who don't pay at least 2% of their GDP on defence. 

"Rutte is very focused on keeping the US in NATO and I think he's really smart about this, you know he won't be combative while he's there," said the US official.

 “We've got to separate NATO from Ukraine because up to now we've been very involved, but NATO is bigger than Ukraine right now,” the official added, referring to the US ceasefire initiative.

President Trump is likely to underline this message heavily again today.  

"We'll be focusing on Article 3 of the NATO charter – 'allies must be able to defend themselves and contribute to the collective defence of the alliance'," said the US official.

Meanwhile, Trump said the US would stay in NATO "if they treat us fairly and they pay their bills".

"I made a certain statement that I’m not going to be involved with NATO unless you pay your bills,” he said at the White House on Wednesday.

“I was asked the question, ‘if we don’t pay are you going to help us?’, I said no, if you don’t pay you’re delinquent," Trump said at the Oval Office St. Patrick’s Day meeting with the Irish taoiseach.

“If you’re not paying your bills I’m not gonna help,” he added.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is meeting US President Donald Trump amid ongoing negotiations for a potential truce in Ukraine.