Dutch PM to visit Trump next week, hand over D-Day flag

Prime Minister Mark Rutte has a meeting with United States president Donald Trump next week Thursday, July 18th, a White House spokesperson confirmed in a statement. During that visit, Rutte and art collector Bert Kreuk will hand over an the first American flag planted in Normandy on D-Day, which the collector decided to donate to the US, NU.nl reports.

When Kreuk bought the flag years ago, his dream was to hand it over to the leader of the American army - the president. He decided to donate the flag to the United States, but only if Trump came to collect it personally.

There were expectations that the US president would do so around an international business conference in The Hague in May, but that did not happen. Rutte then suggested that Trump may come to get the flag in August. Now Kreuk will travel to the United States to donate the flag.

Rutte and Kreuk will hand the flag to Trump in a special ceremony, the White House said on Thursday. After that, the flag will be displayed in the Smithsonian National Historical Museum in Washington DC.

This will be Rutte's second visit to the White House. The first was in July last year, during which the Dutch Prime Minister made headlines by interrupting Trump.

Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs will also be present at the meeting in the White House. He is participating in a conference n religious freedoms at the US Department of Foreign Affairs in Washington next week.