The Netherland’s prime minister, Mark Rutte, stressed the importance of a tighter partnership between the two countries and safeguarding innovation.
THIS SUMMER HAS witnessed a growing number of trade conflicts between the United States and Europe: France passing taxes on U.S. tech giants, for example, or the U.S. threats of tariffs on European car imports.
But putting those disputes aside, the prime minister of the Netherlands arrived in Washington on Thursday with a delegation of entrepreneurs to discuss expanding Dutch-U.S. economic ties, as well as boosting security cooperation between the two countries.
Speaking in advance of his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte also called for increasing protections for intellectual property rights and safeguarding innovations in the Netherlands, the rest of Europe and in the United States. He emphasized the contributions the two countries provide to each other’s economies.
About 800 Dutch companies are currently active in America, Rutte said, and the delegation of about 125 entrepreneurs in the fields of life sciences and health, artificial intelligence and robotics, and climate resilience is currently in the U.S. looking for new partners and markets.
The Netherlands is among the top five investors in the United States, Rutte said, a relationship that brings high levels of investment in research and development in both countries. The Netherlands alone invests $2.5 billion in R&D in the United States.
“Overall, the trade and investment relationship between our two countries already supports around 825,000 US jobs, and it’s our ambition — together with President Trump — to make that a cool million,” Rutte said at a panel at the Atlantic Council.
Ensuring innovation and safeguarding intellectual property are gaining more importance in a world where China is a rising global superpower. While Rutte said the rise of China and its involvement in international relations is a “positive development,” he warned of the danger the country poses over “free and fair world trade,” cybersecurity and the international protection of intellectual property.
“We mustn’t be naive: We need to protect our intellectual property and our innovations, and we need to do it together,” Rutte said.
Keeping the transatlantic bond is crucial, Rutte said, in a world that is more and more divided.
“A lot may have changed since the days of the Marshall Plan, but a stable and prosperous Europe has always been – and will always be – in the direct interest of the United States,” he added. “And vice versa.”
The United States is also right to criticize multilateral partnerships, said Rutte, whose country’s recent presidency of the U.N. Security Council focused on reforming the United Nations system. Instead of criticizing international organizations, Rutte said the U.S. and its European allies should examine ways to improve global agreements.
“Let’s use the momentum created by the critical approach of the current U.S. administration,” Rutte said at the panel. “Let’s work together to bring real change in the organizations that really matter, not by renouncing or dissolving the multilateral system altogether because it doesn’t work properly, but by improving it and making it fit for purpose once again.”