Oct 21, 2025 - Politics & Policy

NATO leader jets to D.C. after Trump's "tough" Zelensky meeting

This is Mark Rutte and Donald Trump — Photo: Andrew Caballero/AFP via Getty Images

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: After Trump's "tough" meeting with Ukrainian President Zelensky last week, Rutte made preparations to travel to Washington to meet with Trump and members of Congress.

The meeting was scheduled before the White House on Tuesday pulled down a planned summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest.

Zoom out: After a long phone conversation with Putin last week, Trump announced that he would be meeting with Putin to try and broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

On Sunday, Trump was still optimistic about ending the conflict, telling Fox News that Putin was "going to take something, he's won certain property."
But a phone call Monday between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart didn't yield sufficient progress towards a second Trump-Putin summit.

Zoom in: Rutte accompanied Zelensky to a White House meeting in August along with other European leaders after a February Oval Office visit between Trump and Zelensky ended in acrimony.

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NATO leader jets to D.C. after Trump's "tough" Zelensky meeting

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