NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says he looks forward to working with Trump \u201cto advance peace through strength\u201d as the former president closes in on the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe face a growing number of challenges globally, from a more aggressive Russia, to terrorism, to strategic competition with China, as well the increasing alignment of China, Russia, North Korea and Iran,\u201d Rutte said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking together through NATO helps to deter aggression, protect our collective security and support our economies,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Rutte also praised Trump for his work during his first term to persuade U.S. allies in NATO to ramp up defense spending.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He noted that around two-thirds of the 32 NATO allies are due to meet the organization\u2019s main defense spending target this year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Amnewsagency | Reporters | with Associated Press.<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says he looks forward to working with Trump \u201cto advance peace through strength\u201d as the former president closes in on the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. \u201cWe face a growing number of challenges globally, from a more aggressive Russia, to terrorism, to strategic competition with China, as<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_1160854738579181570_1160854738579181570":"","facebook_3558452337540614_100649324928663":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\n