America’s top diplomat Marco Rubio strikes a conciliatory tone at the Munich Security Conference, saying that the U.S. and Europe ‘belong together.’
Rubio says US, Europe ‘belong together’ at Munich Security Conference
Secretary of State Marco Rubio struck a conciliatory tone at the Munich Security Conference, saying that the U.S. and Europe “belong together.”
MUNICH, Germany − A year ago, Vice President JD Vance delivered a fact-lite, bombshell speech at the Munich Security Conference that stunned European leaders because it deeply criticized its policies on migration, defense, free speech and warned that the region faced “civilizational erasure” if it didn’t take immediate action.
At the same forum on Feb. 14, America’s top diplomat, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, struck a more conciliatory tone, saying that “the United States and Europe belong together.”
“The fate of Europe will never be irrelevant to our own,” Rubio said during a 30-minute address in Munich that sought to spell out some of the links and historical ties between the U.S. and Europe and at times drew big applause from dozens of world leaders and senior officials and even a standing ovation from a large part of the audience.
“In a time of headlines heralding the end of the transatlantic era, let it be known and clear to all that this is neither our goal nor our wish, because for us Americans, our home may be in the Western Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe,” Rubio said.
His remarks appeared to be aimed in part at providing a message of unity after Vance from the same stage last year launched a blistering attack on European leaders, accusing them of censoring free speech, failing to control immigration and not doing enough to protect the region militarily. “This is unacceptable!” Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister, shouted from the audience at the time.
But in his address Rubio also made it clear that the Trump administration wants a shift in how European countries work together with the U.S. “We want allies who can defend themselves so no adversaries will feel inclined to challenge our collective strength,” he said. “We want allies who are proud of their culture, their heritage.”
Still, while it was a different tone, it may not, ultimately, be a substantial shift in how the two regions do business.
Greenland, Ukraine, Trump loom over Munich
In a report a report released ahead of the gathering, the security conference’s organizers described President Donald Trump as a “wrecking ball” who is destroying the norms and institutions of the international order. Last month, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark questioned how long America would remain a European ally.
And many senior diplomats and officials here said that there is no question that a deep and “destructive” foreign policy divide has opened up between Europe and Trump during his action-packed second term in office.
“The culture war of the MAGA movement is not ours. Freedom of speech ends here with us when that speech goes against human dignity and the constitution,” Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on stage in Munich in Feb. 13, referring to Vance’s address last year. “We do not believe in tariffs and protectionism, but in free trade.” Last week, Merz said “transatlantic relations have changed” and “no one in this room says this with more regret than I.”
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the European Union’s executive branch, said in Munich that “some lines have been crossed than cannot be uncrossed anymore.”
The security conference, which started in 1963 as a forum for Western defense debate during the Cold War, is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s threats to acquire Denmark’s Greenland territory, quarrels over his tariffs on imports from European nations, and as Europe faces a multitude of threats from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Rubio skipped a Ukraine-related meeting with European leaders in Munich, though he did hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and, separately, with Frederiksen, Denmark’s prime minister, and Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the prime minister of Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
“I hope we can find a solution to all this,” Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told reporters, including USA TODAY, on the sidelines of the conference, referring to the unresolved issue of Trump’s interest in Greenland. Denmark, Greenland and the U.S. have launched talks to try to find a way out of a crisis that has severely strained ties between Washington and its European and NATO allies.
Nielsen, Greenland’s leader, said in a post on social media that during the meeting with Rubio in Munich “it was emphasized that the conversations being made are the right way forward and the interests of Greenland were once again clearly highlighted.” However, few other details about the negotiations have been made public.
“I think Greenland’s going to want us, but we get along very well with Europe. We’ll see how it all works out. We’re negotiating right now for Greenland” Trump said, speaking to reporters on Feb. 13.
On a panel on Arctic security, Nielsen said Greenland is “willing to do more” with NATO allies to make the region more secure. Frederiksen, sitting next to him, said that “we don’t think it’s over,” referring to Trump’s Greenland threats.
Dems descend on Munich Security Conference
The conference in Munich this year has also seen top Democrats including California Gov. Gavin Newsom; Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York; and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer descend on the forum. They are burnishing their foreign policy credentials, reassuring European allies that they can rely on the U.S. once Trump leaves office and boosting their profiles ahead of possible presidential runs in 2028.
“It’s such a low-bar and I don’t think you get much worse than Vance’s speech last year in terms of the impact,” Newsom told USA TODAY in Munich ahead of Rubio’s remarks. “I was a bit embarrassed on behalf of my country. It was a shock to the system. I have a little more confidence in Rubio. He’s a diplomat. Vance is not.”
Matt Duss, who served as a foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and was in Munich to help guide Ocasio-Cortez on international matters, said that the Trump administration has laid out “pretty extreme positions” on the U.S-Europe relationship. “The Europeans love Rubio. He’s seen as part of the club. But even if he’s able to characterize the administration’s policy in a less destructive way they should have no illusions about it.”
Gallego said that the softer tone in Rubio’s speech came as a relief to European officials. However, he said that in private discussions they remain extremely alarmed about a U.S. administration that they view as erratic, irresponsible and lacking strategic focus.
“On a worry scale of one to 10, Europeans are at six,” he said, in an interview.
Still, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker pushed back on criticisms of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, saying during successive panel appearances in Munich that the U.S. is not trying to disband NATO or undermine the world order − only seeking to nudge its European partners toward being better allies.