NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will visit Washington next week amid U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to withdraw from the alliance.
Allison Hart, a NATO spokesperson, said Monday that "Secretary General Rutte will be in Washington next week for a long-planned visit," Reuters reported. A White House official also confirmed Rutte's planned visit.
Trump strongly hinted at leaving NATO during an Easter luncheon at the White House the same day. "We've had some very bad allies within NATO," the president said. "Hopefully, we'll never need them. I don't think we're going to need them."
However, withdrawing from NATO would require U.S. congressional approval or a resolution passed by a two-thirds supermajority in the Senate. From a practical standpoint, the U.S. benefits from maintaining military bases across Europe with 70,000 troops stationed there, enabling it to respond to threats before they reach the American homeland.