Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Foreign Affairs Minister Wopke Hoekstra will travel to Washington next Tuesday for a meeting with US President Joe Biden. It is the first time they have met Biden in the White House. “There’s a lot to talk about,” says American expert Paul Verhagen of the Center for Strategic Studies in The Hague.
Prime Minister Rutte was also in the White House in 2019. He then met with then-President Donald Trump. Working with him was “somewhat uncomfortable at times,” Rutte said at a NATO summit in Madrid last June. There was a good relationship, but it was also “a little awkward” at times. “This time Prime Minister Rutte will have a more pleasant conversation on a personal level,” thinks Verhagen. “But the agenda hasn’t gotten simpler. There’s a lot to talk about.’
Ukraine
By the way, the war in Ukraine is on the agenda. The US and the EU are massively supporting the Kiev government with money and weapons. There is close cooperation in this. According to Verhagen, it is interesting for America that the Netherlands has a “quite large role” in the intelligence network in Europe. ‘Holland has added value there. But the Americans think that we Europeans should do more defense contracts for NATO and send more weapons to Ukraine.”
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For America
According to Verhagen, the Americans want one thing: European leadership within Europe itself. “Especially in the military. The Netherlands also has an interesting role in this regard, since Rutte is the most senior EU leader who is also pro-EU. Since the loss of the British, the Netherlands has been the most pro-American country in the EU. We have a very important trading relationship and many investment relationships, so the Netherlands is also seen within the EU as America’s team.
US financial benefits
In this regard, on the trade front, Biden partially maintains the policies of his predecessor. Washington gave several hundred billion dollars in tax breaks and subsidies for US-made green technology last year. This is illegal state aid, it can be heard in Europe. European countries fear that companies will move to the US to take advantage of these US financial benefits.
Source: BNR
Sharon Rock is an author and journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. She has a passion for learning about different cultures and understanding the complexities of the world. With a talent for explaining complex global issues in an accessible and engaging way, Sharon has become a respected voice in the field of world news journalism.
