![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/president-of-the-european-commission-ursula-von-der-leyen-ta-WVPFIAX7B5FRRHOLR7NM55MJTQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\nUS Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a reassuring message to America\u2019s allies on Saturday, striking a less aggressive but still firm tone about the administration\u2019s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its priorities after more than a year of president Donald Trump\u2019s often-hostile rhetoric toward traditional allies.<\/p>\n
Reminding his audience at the annual Munich Security Conference about America\u2019s centuries-long roots in Europe, Rubio said the United States would remain forever tied to the continent even as it pushes for changes in the relationship and the institutions that have been the bulwark of the post-World War II world order.<\/p>\n
Rubio addressed the conference a year after Vice President JD Vance stunned the same audience with a harsh critique of European values. <\/p>\n
A series of Trump administration statements and moves targeting allies followed, including Trump\u2019s short-lived threat last month to impose new tariffs on several European countries in a bid to secure US control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.<\/p>\n
On Friday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had opened this year’s gathering by calling for the US and Europe to \u201crepair and revive trans-Atlantic trust together,\u201d saying that even the US isn\u2019t powerful enough to go it alone in an world whose old order no longer exists. <\/p>\n
But he and other European officials made clear that they will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.<\/p>\n
\u2018A child of Europe\u2019<\/p>\n
While offering a calmer and more reassuring tone, Rubio made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on policy. <\/p>\n
He denounced \u201ca climate cult\u201d and \u201can unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubio argued that the \u201ceuphoria\u201d of the Western victory in the Cold War led to a “dangerous delusion that we had entered \u2018the end of history,\u2019 that every nation would now be a liberal democracy, that the ties formed by trade and by commerce alone would now replace nationhood … and that we would now live in a world without borders where everyone became a citizen of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made these mistakes together and now together we owe it to our people to face those facts and to move forward to rebuild,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why we Americans may sometimes come off as a little direct and urgent in our counsel,” he said. <\/p>\n
“This is why President Trump demands seriousness and reciprocity from our friends here in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubio said that an end of the trans-Atlantic era \u201cis neither our goal nor our wish,\u201d adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that “we have bled and died side-by-side on battlefields from Kapyong to Kandahar,” a contrast with disparaging remarks by Trump about NATO allies\u2019 troops in Afghanistan that drew an outcry. <\/p>\n
“And I\u2019m here today to make it clear that America is charting the path for a new century of prosperity. and that once again, we want to do it together with you, our cherished allies and our oldest friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
US officials accompanying Rubio said his message was much the same as Vance\u2019s last year but was intended to have a softer landing on the audience, which they acknowledged had recoiled at much of Trump\u2019s rhetoric over the past year.<\/p>\n
Europeans reassured but not complacent<\/p>\n
The president of the European Union’s executive commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Rubio’s speech was \u201cvery reassuring\u201d but noted that \u201cin the administration, some have a harsher tone on these topics.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen talks during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
In her speech to the conference, she stressed that \u201cEurope must become more independent,\u201d including on defense. <\/p>\n
She insisted on Europe’s \u201cdigital sovereignty\u201d \u2014 its approach to hate speech on social media.<\/p>\n
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that \u201cwe shouldn\u2019t get in the warm bath of complacency. He said the UK must reforge closer ties with Europe to help the continent \u201cstand on our own two feet\u201d in its own defense, and said there needs to be investment that \u201cmoves us from overdependence to interdependence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hanno Pevkur, the defense minister of EU and NATO member Estonia, said it was “quite a bold statement to say that America is \u2018a child of Europe\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a good speech, needed here today, but that doesn\u2019t mean that we can rest on pillows now,” he told The Associated Press. \u201cSo still a lot of work has to be done.”<\/p>\n
Rubio didn’t mention Greenland. After last month’s escalation over Trump’s designs on the Arctic island, the US, Denmark and Greenland started technical talks on an Arctic security deal.<\/p>\n
The secretary of state met briefly in Munich on Friday with the Danish and Greenlandic leaders, a meeting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described as constructive.<\/p>\n
But Frederiksen suggested Saturday that, although the dispute has cooled, she remains wary. Asked whether the crisis has passed, she replied: \u201cNo, unfortunately not. I think the desire from the US president is exactly the same. He is very serious about this theme.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether she can put a price on Greenland, she said \u201cof course not,\u201d adding that \u201cwe have to respect sovereign states … and we have to respect people\u2019s right for self-determination. And the Greenlandic people have been very clear, they don\u2019t want to become Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a reassuring message to America\u2019s allies on Saturday, striking a less…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":284996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,64,40,38,41,39,1745],"class_list":{"0":"post-284995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-north-america","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories","15":"tag-uk-europe"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=284995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}