Brussels 14.07.2025 Today NATO Chief Mark Rutte has visited Washington D.C. on Monday where he met the U.S. President Donald Trump, and will other high officials as Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
🚨 President Trump seals a blockbuster deal. NATO nations will buy American weapons, fully paid for by them—zero cost to the U.S.—boosting our economy and military strength while they step up defense spending:
"We make the best and we’re going to be sending the best to NATO." pic.twitter.com/EM5RiHUVIY
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) July 14, 2025
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While received Rutte in the Oval office Trump announced his plan to transfer to the European nations the responsibility to purchase American weapons, and then to ship them to Ukraine. This concept has been under discussion for months, ever since Trump won last year’s election and European officials quickly began deliberating on ways to sustain U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine under a leader who had vowed to pull back American support.
Eight months later, the President announced the plan during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office. The president also laid out his new deadline for Russia — threatening trade consequences if no peace deal is reached with Ukraine within 50 days.
NATO chief had willingly accepted the proposal of the U.S. President, and confirmed the consent, given by a number of the allies, ensuring that the other will follow the suit. He assessed Trump’s request as “logical”.
In the cause of the conversation Trump said that he was disappointed in Russian President Vladimir Putin, who did not do much to reach the peace deal with Ukraine.
“We’re going to make top-of-the-line weapons, and they’ll be sent to NATO,” Trump said, adding that Washington’s NATO allies would pay for the weapons. The weapons would include Patriot air defence missiles, which Ukraine has urgently sought to defend its cities from Russian air strikes.
Trump’s threat to impose so-called secondary sanctions on Russia, if carried out, would be a major shift in Western sanctions policy.
🚨 President Trump seals a blockbuster deal. NATO nations will buy American weapons, fully paid for by them—zero cost to the U.S.—boosting our economy and military strength while they step up defense spending:
"We make the best and we’re going to be sending the best to NATO." pic.twitter.com/EM5RiHUVIY
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) July 14, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Amid the ongoing war, Western countries have cut off most of their own financial ties to Moscow, but have held back from taking steps that would restrict Russia from selling its oil elsewhere.
Trump’s announcement of a 50-day grace period was greeted with relief by investors in Russia, where the rouble recovered from earlier losses and stock markets rose.
Earlier on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy held talks with Trump’s envoy Keith Kellogg.
EUROPE DIPLOMATIC 