Washington– Washington (AFP) – Secretary of State Marco Rubio He is leading a large U.S. delegation this week to the Munich Security Conference, where increasingly nervous European leaders hope for at least a brief respite from President Donald Trump’s often inconsistent policies and threats that have exacerbated the problem. Tense transatlantic relations and The international system after World War II.
A year after Vice President Dr Vance astonished the assembled dignitaries In the same place with a verbal attack on many of America’s closest allies in Europe, accusing them Endangering Western civilization With left-leaning domestic platforms and no responsibility to defend themselves, Rubio intends to take a less controversial but philosophically similar approach when he addresses the annual gathering of world leaders and national security officials on Saturday, US officials say.
The State Department’s official announcement of Rubio’s trip did not provide any details about his two-day stop in Munich, after which he will visit Slovakia and Hungary. But the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the trip, said the top U.S. diplomat intends to focus on areas of cooperation on shared global and regional concerns, including the Middle East and Ukraine as well as China, an economic powerhouse seeking to strengthen cooperation. Taking advantage of uncertainty in US-European relations.
If so, much of the public may be relieved after being battered first by Vance’s blunt rebukes last year and then by a series of statements. Trump’s statements and movements In the months that followed, those attacks targeted almost every country in Europe, Canada and longtime allies in the Indo-Pacific region.
Trump’s recent statements about… Control of Greenland From NATO member Denmark and Insults were directed at various leaders It was particularly alarming, prompting many in Europe Questioning the value of the United States as an ally And a partner.
This leaves Rubio with a heavy task to do if he wants to calm things down.
Claudia Major, senior vice president of the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, said Vance’s speech last year was a “truly shocking moment.” “It was seen as the first very clear statement about what the new Trump administration means,” namely that “the Europeans are not partners anymore.”
“There is great doubt as to whether the basis (of trust) still exists and whether we still share the same vision for the transatlantic relationship,” she said. “The longer this type of estrangement lasts, the more difficult it will be to re-establish a solid relationship.”
Munich Security Conference President Wolfgang Ischinger offered a similar view.
“Transatlantic relations are currently going through a major crisis of trust and credibility,” he said this week. But he also expressed hope that Rubio and the dozens of US lawmakers expected to attend the meeting would offer a less dire forecast for the future.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, whom Rubio will meet on Friday, tried to adopt a middle line to deal with Trump’s unpredictability and his insistence on transactional relationships.
He said Europe also needed to “learn the language of power politics” to assert itself, for example And bear greater responsibility for its securityIt strives to achieve greater “technological independence” and enhance its economic growth. But he stressed that “as democracies, we are partners and allies and not subordinates” to the United States
Some, such as French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, seem to have given up on Trump and the United States. Canada and France opened consulates in Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, last week Show support for all of Greenland And Denmark.
Macron warned this week that tensions between Europe and the United States could escalate after the latest “Greenland moment.” He described the Trump administration as “openly anti-European” and seeking to “dismember” the European Union.
He said in an interview with several European newspapers: “When there is a clear act of aggression, I think what we should do is not bend or try to reach a settlement.” “I think we’ve been trying this strategy for months. It’s not working.”
Macron pointed out, “A double crisis: we have the Chinese tsunami on the trade front, and we suffer from minute-by-minute instability on the American side.”
Carney – which was met with applause from many Response to Trump in his speech At the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland last month, Trump did not hide his frustration and impatience with the Republican president.
Carney emerged as the leader of a movement that countries seek to find ways to engage with and confront the United States, which is what he pledged to do Follow up on trade deals with countries Other than the United States, including China, to serve as an anchor for trade stability. The China deal was directed New threats from Trump.
For many in Europe, Trump’s intentions regarding Greenland exacerbate their concerns about it Russia’s war with Ukraine It serves as a reminder of centuries of power politics in which diplomacy was subordinate to the use of military force.
“Greenland is to Trump what Ukraine is to Russian President Vladimir Putin, although it clearly has not seen a devastating war at this point,” said Fiona Hill, a Russia expert who served on the White House National Security Council during Trump’s first term.
Meanwhile, as Trump tries to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war and seek a nuclear deal with Iran, Europeans are increasingly concerned about it. The “Peace Council” created by Trump A 27-member group of world leaders was first tasked with handling the Gaza peace deal but was ultimately envisioned as a means to bring peace to Gaza. Resolve other major conflicts.
Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Norway and Sweden, among others, have refused to accept or have not yet signed on to membership in the council, which will He held his first meeting To raise money for Gaza in Washington on February 19.
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Associated Press writers Emma Burrows in London, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.