Rutte Takes 'Europeanisation of NATO' Pitch to Iowa, Cites $250B+ in New Allied Spending Since Hague

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte spent September 22–23, 2026 in Des Moines, Iowa — meeting Governor Kim Reynolds, touring the Iowa National Guard's Joint Forces Headquarters, and joining a Chicago Council on Global Affairs conversation with US Permanent Representative to NATO Matthew Whitaker — to make the case for the alliance directly to the American Midwest. Rutte told the Iowa audience 'NATO may seem far away from America's heartland. But believe me, the two are inextricably linked — by history and by shared values,' framing the alliance as practical rather than 'a lofty ideal': 'we're a deeply practical, roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-to-work Alliance. I'd like to think we're sort of Iowan in that way.' He cited the Hague Summit's 5%-of-GDP spending target (3.5% core defense, 1.5% resilience-related) and said 'America's Allies in Europe and Canada have already invested more than 250 billion additional dollars in defence' in the two years since. Rutte described the shift as the 'Europeanisation of NATO' — not American abandonment but Europeans taking 'a bigger share of the responsibility, more senior roles' in their own regional security, which he argued frees US capacity for Indo-Pacific priorities, while also urging allies to 'stay calm, carry on, and keep supporting Ukraine' against Russian hybrid and psychological pressure rather than treating it as a crisis. The stop capped a three-day US visit before Rutte continued to New York for the UN General Assembly.