When Estonia’s liaison to Congress meets lawmakers, his standard icebreaker line is, “Estonians like to wear their love for America on their sleeve.”
It is a fitting introduction for Karl-Gerhard Lille, because he regularly sports an American flag blazer and a matching bow tie as he walks the marbled corridors on Capitol Hill, buttonholing members of Congress and their aides.
The flashy outfit is just one piece of his strategy to put Estonia on the map with people in a position to support his small Baltic country on Russia’s border, as the Trump administration turns away from Europe. Armed with a pocketful of Estonian candy and endless fun facts about his nation’s close ties to the United States, Mr. Lille spends his days on Capitol Hill trying to make new friends for his country.
When Estonia regained full independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, “we made a specific decision that we’re not going to be alone again,” Mr. Lille said. “Meaning we can’t have enough friends, and to me, that means in my line of work here that everybody’s a potential friend of ours on Capitol Hill.”
Mr. Lille’s unique approach to trans-Atlantic diplomacy comes at a time when Europe has struggled to court the Trump administration.
But unlike some of his European peers, Mr. Lille is thriving. In his time in Washington, he has helped recruit more than 70 representatives and about a dozen senators to the Baltic Caucus, with many joining this year. And just last week, he saw two important provisions for Baltic security signed into law by President Trump in the annual defense policy bill.
Estonia stands apart from many of its European peers: It has long been committed to its own defense. The country passed legislation in April to spend over 5 percent of its G.D.P. on defense by 2029, making it one of the few to meet Mr. Trump’s demands on NATO. In July, Estonia’s defense minister met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Pentagon to reaffirm that pledge.
Still, challenges remain. Estonia, which spent decades under Russian and Soviet occupation, has not stopped criticizing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, even as Mr. Trump has at times blamed Ukraine and tried to curry favor with Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin.
“We now don’t have an alignment of views on Russia in particular,” said George P. Kent, the former U.S. ambassador to Estonia under the Biden administration, “and I think that could lead to some more challenging conversations in the U.S.-Estonian diplomatic dynamic.”
Recognizing the changing landscape, Mr. Lille refrains from politics and starts his pitch on a more personal note.
Mr. Lille, 33, grew up in an Americanized environment in Rakvere, a small Estonian town halfway between the capital, Tallinn, and the Russian border. He attended a Metallica concert before he was in first grade. His family drove Fords. And every Christmas, he watched all five “Die Hard” movies, an “Estonian Christmas tradition,” he says.
These stories have become currency for Mr. Lille on Capitol Hill.
Last Wednesday, he arrived with a “Die Hard” Christmas sweater under his usual American flag blazer, and with a bundle of homemade “Die Hard” posters to distribute to representatives as Christmas gifts.
While he was waiting around the Rayburn House Office Building, Representative Tim Burchett, Republican of Tennessee, stopped to inspect Mr. Lille’s sweater, which was emblazoned with the words “Yippee Ki Yay Merry Christmas” and Bruce Willis smoking a cigarette.
“Let me see that shirt,” Mr. Burchett said, pointing at it. “Is that Bruce Willis?”
“It’s ‘Die Hard,’” an aide to the congressman chimed in with a smile.
Before Mr. Burchett could continue down the hall, Mr. Lille launched into one of his favorite lines in his lawmaker encounters.
“Have you heard of the Estonian Christmas tradition of watching all five ‘Die Hard’ movies?” he asked.
It is all part of the shtick for which Mr. Lille has become well known.
“Whenever I meet people from the Hill, there is someone who tells me not only that they know Karl, but they love Karl,” said his boss, Ambassador Kristjan Prikk.
That was evident on a recent Wednesday, as Mr. Lille walked through the halls of House office buildings delivering Christmas presents, stopping to chat with staff members in both parties and handing out candy.
“If we had more Karls in this world, this world would be better,” said Mark Dreiling, the chief of staff to Representative Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska.
“This guy is single-handedly holding together U.S.-Estonia relations,” John Lynch, an aide to Representative Jim Costa, Democrat of California, joked after Mr. Lille had given him a few pieces of candy.
Mr. Lille loves his job, but it is not always fun and games. As representatives and staff members worked to draft the $900 billion defense policy bill that was enacted last week, Mr. Lille said, he sent out emails to 2,000 aides in both chambers. His pitch: Support the Baltic Security Initiative and mandate a minimum U.S. troop deployment in Europe.
The Baltic Security Initiative — a multimillion-dollar program that supports Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania’s defense against Russia — and the mandate to regularly station at least 76,000 U.S. troops in Europe are especially important to Estonia, which hosts several hundred U.S. troops and is vigilant about a Russian incursion.
Both provisions made it into the defense bill. The measure represents a decidedly different approach to trans-Atlantic relations than the White House’s National Security Strategy, which took European leaders to task.
Still, the Trump administration’s position that the United States has no obligation to guarantee European security means that Mr. Lille’s work is not over. By cultivating relationships across Congress, he is trying to maintain connections that could be crucial to his country’s security.
“There are 535 offices for me to deal with,” Mr. Lille said. His goal, he added, was to personally tell every one of them: “Hey, we exist. We’re kind of cool. Be our friend, because we’re your friend.”
Adam Sella covers breaking news for The Times in Washington.
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