The United States President Donald Trump (R) received the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Mark Rutte, White House, Washington, March 13, 2025
The US President Donald Trump by far outstrips any of his predecessors in post-cold war era in the transparency of his foreign policy agenda and in his attempt to connect the public opinion with his America First ideology. Trump’s presidential diplomacy depends heavily on his media briefings, which have become a daily occurrence and are an absolute ‘must’ for any serious analyst or observer of world affairs.
Trump’s press conference at the White House on Thursday during the visit of the NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte stood out for the following signposts in the US foreign policy agenda that he planted in a 48-minute event alone.
One. Whereas the expectation was that Rutte’s visit was just the right occasion for Trump to bring the western alliance to the centre stage of his foreign policy and reclaim the leadership of the transatlantic alliance “to project American power” (Rutte’s words), he was instead simply uninterested in NATO — although Rutte praised him sky-high for his contribution to making the alliance a “strong” organisation by boosting its budget.
Two. On the contrary, Trump spoke at length on the Ukraine peace process and expressed hope that the war is ending, taking even a swipe at NATO for having squandered its budget wastefully under the Biden presidency by intervening in a war that should not have happened.
By the way, Rutte is known to be a super hawk on Russia (which actually inspired President Biden to handpick him for the present job late last year.) Rutte was a prominent fixture in the family photos of the recent string of EU summits that were pioneered by French President Emmanuel Macron to choreograph the future trajectory of the Ukraine war against the backdrop of the perceived US retrenchment in Europe,
Three. Trump taunted Rutte openly by proposing that the latter could be “instrumental” in his hugely controversial foreign policy venture to annex Greenland, which Denmark, a NATO country, claims as its integral part. Trump severely questioned the basis of the claim by Denmark to Greenland.
Rutte tried to change the topic but Trump would have none of it and reminded him of NATO’s “relevance”. To be sure, NATO finds itself like a cat on a hot tin roof if Trump’s strong hint of a likely boost in the US troop deployment in its two existing bases in Greenland goes ahead which will be tantamount to an annexation by military means, something Denmark will be hardly in a position to counter. Trump spoke in the presence of Vice-President JD Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Four. Trump point blank rejected the narrative that Russia posed a military threat to Europe and that Russian victory in Ukraine will encourage Moscow to attack European states. Arguably, Trump’s ‘nyet’ not only knocks the bottom out of the legitimacy of the NATO and Europe’s intervention in Ukraine but also casts doubts on the raison d’être of the NATO. (Earlier in his remarks, Rutte had spoken forcefully of the imperative need to swiftly build up Europe’s defence industry to meet the Russian threat.)
Five. Trump hinted that he may resume talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, which he began in the first term but got derailed as his presidency increasingly came under siege from the deep state and the neocon lobby with the support of the Democratic Party. A resumption of the US-DPRK talks can potentially realign the security alliance matrix in Northeast Asia and impact the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy on the whole.
Six. Most important, Trump disclosed that much serious discussion had been taking place with Ukraine, including on the seemingly intractable territorial issues and the future status of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in southeastern Ukraine, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world, and has been under Russian control since 2022.
Trump said, “We’ve been discussing land with Ukraine… pieces of land that would be kept and lost and all of the other elements of a final agreement. You know, we’ve been discussing concepts of land because you don’t want to waste time with a ceasefire if it’s not going to mean anything, They discussed (in Jeddah) NATO and being in NATO, and everybody knows what the answer to that is. They’ve known that answer for 40 years, in all fairness.”
Trump seemed to suggest that conditions have been created for holding serious negotiations with Russia going forward.
Trump spoke with great deliberation in Rutte’s presence, knowing that European capitals would be keenly listening. Suffice to say, Trump has left the US’ European allies in no doubt that he is the new sheriff in town and there are no two ways about it.
Trump has shown no interest in Western troop deployment in Ukraine; nor does he envisage any European participation in the US-Russia dialogue. Trump sees this as a deal between him and Putin and sounded confident that Russia’s concerns can be properly addressed.
However, it is doubtful whether the Russian side also sees the situation in such binary terms. If Putin’s address to the Russian Foreign Ministry last June (spelling out the conditions to be fulfilled before talks commenced) is applied as the yardstick today, there is a long winding road ahead. Indeed, there is much scepticism in Moscow even about Ukraine’s sudden turnaround on ceasefire. Russians see it as a tactical ploy to wriggle out of the devastating rout that thousands of its elite troops are facing in Kursk at the moment, and nothing more.
At the press conference, Trump touched on Putin’s statement on March 13 and said that the latter “put out a very promising statement, but it wasn’t complete. And, yeah, I’d love to meet with him or talk to him.” Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff met Putin on Thursday to discuss the results of US-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia earlier this week and to relay Moscow’s position back to Washington. based on Witkoff’s feedback from Moscow, Trump has since written on Truth Social,
“We had very good and productive discussions with President Vladimir Putin of Russia yesterday, and there is a very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end — BUT, AT THIS VERY MOMENT, THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY, AND IN A VERY BAD AND VULNERABLE POSITION. I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II. God bless them all!!!”
In televised remarks later, Putin responded to Trump’s ‘demarche’ regarding the fate of Ukrainian troops. He said, “We are sympathetic to President Trump’s call. If they lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and dignified treatment.”
Trump had stated during the press conference yesterday that the US has already discussed many details of a potential “final agreement” with Kiev and is now waiting to see “whether or not Russia is there.” Apparently, Trump is conveying the impression that the latest signal from Witkoff’s meeting last night with Putin is that Russia is coming on board.
However, appearances can be deceptive in such situations of smoke and mirrors in international diplomacy. A close reading of Putin’s statement of March 13 reveals that while Russia is, in principle, open to the US’ call for ceasefire, Moscow has serious reservations, and several questions remain to be answered. The ball is, arguably, in Trump’s court now, contrary to Washington’s facile argument. Suffice to say, the US-Russia dialogue appears to be at an inflection point.