U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio departed Thursday for the Munich Security Conference, vowing to press European allies on defense burden-sharing while striking a less confrontational tone than Washington deployed a year ago.
Rubio will lead the U.S. delegation to the annual security and defense forum, which runs through Sunday in the Bavarian capital. The trip comes amid a delicate moment in transatlantic relations following a bruising year of rhetoric from Washington and a high-profile dispute over Greenland that rattled NATO capitals.
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“We live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to sort of re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be,” Rubio told reporters before boarding his plane, previewing a message focused on allied responsibility and long-term strategy.
Last year’s U.S. delegation — led by Vice President JD Vance — drew sharp criticism from European leaders after Vance castigated the continent’s immigration policies, the rise of populist parties and limits on speech, arguing freedom of expression was “in retreat” across Europe. This year, Vance, fresh off a visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan, is remaining in Washington, lowering expectations for fireworks in Munich.
Even with toned-down rhetoric, Rubio arrives as trust gaps linger. The so-called “Greenland drama,” in which a NATO ally faced the inconceivable prospect of a partner seizing territory, forced European governments to close ranks in protest and triggered urgent diplomacy. President Trump subsequently backed away from threats of seizure and tariffs at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month, instead promoting a framework with NATO for Arctic security. European diplomats say the episode nonetheless left collateral damage.
“Honestly, they want to know where we’re going, where we’d like to go, where we’d like to go with them,” Rubio said of allied expectations.
Transatlantic unease has been fed by Washington’s sharper rhetoric since Trump returned to the White House last January. The administration’s National Security Strategy, released in December, labeled Europe over-regulated, accused it of lacking “self-confidence,” and warned of “civilizational erasure” stemming from immigration. Trump has long cast the European Union as a competitor rather than a partner, once quipping that it was designed to “screw” the United States.
“He doesn’t see a unified Europe as a partner of the United States, but a threat,” said Philip Gordon, a Brookings Institution scholar and former senior official in Democratic administrations. “The more unified it is, the more he doesn’t like it.”
Public sentiment reflects the strain. A Politico poll found that more than half of German respondents do not view the United States as a reliable ally — a sobering backdrop for a conference dedicated to renewing Western cohesion.
Munich’s agenda will test that cohesion. Discussions will center on the durability of transatlantic unity, the American security umbrella, support for Ukraine and the West’s posture toward Moscow. French President Emmanuel Macron will attend, signaling a push to keep channels to the Kremlin open; he has said he hopes talks with Vladimir Putin can resume, though for now substantive contacts are occurring directly between Washington and Moscow.
Rubio is expected to press NATO members on defense investment and coordination across the alliance, arguing Europe must shoulder more of the common load amid war in Ukraine, energy insecurity and intensifying strategic competition in the Arctic and Indo-Pacific.
The conference unfolds days before Trump convenes the first meeting of a new “Board of Peace” on Feb. 19 in Washington. Initially created to coordinate post-war Gaza policy, the body’s scope may extend beyond the Palestinian territory, drawing criticism from some diplomats who see it as a potential rival to existing multilateral institutions, including the United Nations.
How Rubio’s outreach lands in Munich — after a year of bruising exchanges and the Greenland shock — will help determine whether Washington and Europe can stabilize a partnership still central to global security. For now, both sides appear intent on stress-testing the relationship rather than severing it, even as questions of reliability and shared purpose continue to shadow the transatlantic project.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
