As Trump rails against NATO, secretary general heads to D.C.

NATO’s secretary general is heading to the White House next week as President Donald Trump lashes out over European allies’ refusal to join the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran.

WASHINGTON — NATO’s secretary general is heading to the White House next week as President Donald Trump lashes out over European allies’ refusal to join the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran.

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Both NATO and the White House said Thursday that Mark Rutte’s travel was planned long in advance. He has often sought to tamp down Trump’s long-simmering ire toward the trans-Atlantic alliance, and his practice of refusing to criticize the U.S. and insist there is no larger NATO issue has in turn angered some of his European counterparts.

Trump is again vowing to reassess U.S. membership in NATO once the Iran war is over, calling it a “paper tiger” in a recent interview with The Telegraph.