King Willem-Alexander told reporters on the final day of his visit to the US that he is “very grateful that we were still able to go in order to discuss our differences and clearly express our views” with president Donald Trump.
There had been pressure on the government to cancel plans for the royals to have dinner with Trump and stay at the White House because of Trump’s anti-Nato tirades and pledge to “wipe out” Iraq. The Dutch government itself described the timing as “unfortunate”.
The king told reporters during a visit to Florida on Tuesday that careful consideration was given as to whether the visit to the US should go ahead and that it had been very well prepared. He said he was pleased that the decision had been made to proceed.
“Sometimes you disagree with good friends, but you have to keep talking to them… look each other in the eye and talk about what you agree and disagree on,” he said. “But you have to keep in contact.”
The atmosphere at the dinner, which lasted 90 minutes longer than planned, was also relaxed, with plenty of humour, he said. “And we could also make it clear that in some areas, we fundamentally disagree.”
The king declined to go into detail about what he, queen Máxima and prime minister Rob Jetten spoke about with Trump and his wife Melania during Monday night’s dinner. However, he did say that they had spoken about the Caribbean part of the Netherlands.
“I made it clear that the Kingdom of the Netherlands is closer to Venezuela than the width of the Strait of Hormuz,” he said. “That was a visualisation that was certainly useful.” Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire are between 35 and 80 kilometres from the Venezuelan coast.
The king also highlighted to reporters that the United States is an important partner for the Netherlands. “They are our guarantee of security and stability,” he said. “We must always remain on good terms with them.”
A survey by the Dutch enterprise agency RVO earlier this year found Trump’s trade policy is causing problems for many Dutch companies doing business abroad, with 50% describing it as their biggest geopolitical concern.
Dutch exports to the US were 4.7% down in the first 10 months of last year, national statistics agency CBS said in January. The downturn began in July after rising in the first six months of the year.
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