NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte is set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, seeking to ease tensions over the Iran war and US threats to draw down troops in Europe ahead of a pivotal NATO leaders summit in July in Ankara. Trump, a longtime NATO critic who has called the alliance a “paper tiger,” has been angered by its reluctance to support the US in the Middle East conflict or help reopen the Strait of Hormuz after a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28 disrupted the major oil shipping route.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week berated “free-riding” allies at a NATO meeting and announced a six-month review of US troop deployments in Europe that could result in some reductions of American forces. That followed a decision by the US to shrink the pool of US military capabilities ​available to the alliance in a crisis, leaving members grappling with how to fill gaps. One of Rutte’s primary roles since Trump’s election in November 2024 has been managing the president’s hostility toward the alliance and preventing tense moments, including Trump’s push to acquire Greenland, from spiraling into a lasting crisis. Wednesday’s meeting is likely to follow that pattern. “I expect he is trying to get on the same page with Trump to make sure that the NATO summit is a success or not a wipeout,” said Stephen Wertheim, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank.