Dutch PM to lobby U.S. on need for “international order”

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte thinks that a "step-by-step" approach should be used when it comes to counteracting American president Donald Trump's efforts to reshape international order. And that starts with impressing on him the necessity of international order, he said to Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The Dutch Prime Minister advocates for lower trade barriers globally, which is in contrast to many of Trump's moves, like him increasingly hinting that he will pull out of the North American trade agreement NAFTA or imposing tariffs on important solar panels last week.

"We should carefully look into what he's doing and if necessary of course we have to take steps, but not all of a sudden", Rutte said to Bloomberg. "The most crucial thing with Donald Trump is to have a debate on the necessity of an international order in which we have a strong UN, in which we have a strong World Trade Organizations, that we have a legal base under what we are doing worldwide."