FILE - President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, July 18, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, July 18, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and the head of NATO have met for talks on global security, the military alliance said Saturday.
In a brief statement, NATO said Trump and its secretary general, Mark Rutte, met on Friday in Palm Beach, Florida.
“They discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance,†the statement said without giving details.
It appeared to be Rutte's first meeting with Trump since his Nov. 5 election. Rutte had previously congratulated Trump and said “his leadership will again be key to keeping our Alliance strong" and that he looked forward to working with him.
Trump has for years expressed skepticism about and complained about the defense spending of many of its member nations, which he regarded as too low. He depicted NATO allies as leeches on the U.S. military and of the alliance that has defined American foreign policy for decades. He NATO members that fail to meet defense-spending goals.
Rutte and his team also met , U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz, and other members of the president-elect's national security team, the NATO statement said.
