FT learned about Rutte's possible plans to please Trump by putting pressure on the EU defense industry

The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte, plans next week to call on European defense enterprises to increase arms production and thus demonstrate to US President Donald Trump the readiness of the European Union (EU) to meet his expectations. This was reported on May 16 by the Financial Times (FT) newspaper, citing sources.

"Rutte will next week insist that European arms companies increase investments and increase production, as the defense alliance seeks to strengthen the continent's military potential and please US President Donald Trump," the article says.

Representatives of the largest arms manufacturers will attend the meeting in Brussels, which is described as "unusual." Delegates from Rheinmetall (Germany), Safran and Airbus (France), Saab (Sweden), Leonardo (Italy), as well as the international concern Matra BAE Dynamics Aérospatiale (MBDA) are expected among the participants.

Rutte is expected to pay special attention during the negotiations to expanding the production of air defense systems and long-range missiles. In this way, the alliance expects to accelerate the development of key defense areas on the continent.

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The Politico newspaper learned on May 12 that Rutte also intends to force the countries of the bloc to allocate a portion of GDP, namely 0.25%, to finance Kiev. Such a step, as it was clarified, was taken by him in order to allegedly overcome the split observed in NATO. He also noted on March 26 that the bloc's defense spending had already increased by 20% last year.

Trump, in turn, on April 26, once again stated that he was very disappointed in the North Atlantic Alliance. The American leader said that he did not provide Washington with adequate support when it needed it. The head of the White House recalled that his country had "served" NATO for many years and spent trillions of dollars on it.