Dutch PM Rutte to meet with U.S. President Biden in Washington next week

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra will travel to Washington early next week for a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday, sources said. It is the first time they will meet with Biden at the White House, who took office two years ago. Following the trip to the U.S. capital, the Dutch politicians will then continue on to Davos for the World Economic Forum.

In Washington, the agenda will include the war in Ukraine and economic relations. The Netherlands has traditionally been an important investor in the United States, and the two countries are close allies. With the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the Netherlands has "a special role as perhaps the most transatlantic country in the EU," Rutte said earlier.

The prime minister was last at the White House in 2019 where he was received by then-President Donald Trump. The cooperation with Trump was "sometimes a bit uncomfortable," Rutte said at a NATO summit in Madrid last June. There was a good relationship, but sometimes it was "a little embarrassing."

During the Trump administration, relations between the U.S. and the E.U. deteriorated. Trump made U.S. trade interests a top priority and enacted measures that affected European industries, particularly the steel trade. Trump also was distant and more hostile towards NATO, and his policies were sometimes considered unpredictable.

Under Biden, ties with the E.U. have been strengthened again. The Russian invasion of its neighbor, Ukraine, has reinforced this relationship. The U.S. and E.U. have closely cooperated in their substantial support for the government in Kyiv by way of military and economic aid.

In the field of trade, Biden has partially maintained the policy of his predecessor. Washington passed tax breaks and subsidies last year worth several hundred billion dollars for green technology produced in the U.S. Europe has grumbled at what it called illegal state aid, and European countries fear that companies will move to the U.S. to take advantage of these financial advantages.

While the Washington trip has not been confirmed by the Dutch Cabinet's communications office, it did announce that Rutte and Hoekstra will join the country's delegation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The event kicks off on Monday, and Rutte will be in attendance on Wednesday and Thursday.

Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag, Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren, Social Affairs Minister Karien van Gennip and Liesje Schreinemacher, the Foreign Trade Minister, will join Rutte and Hoekstra on the trip. State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen of Infrastructure and Water Management will also attend.