When the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, delivered a speech at Europe’s greatest safety convention within the German metropolis of Munich on February 14, leaders from throughout the continent had been relieved by its content material. In distinction to the earlier 12 months, when US vice-president J.D. Vance had launched a scathing assault on European-style democracy, Rubio’s tone was much more pleasant and conciliatory.
He described the US as a “little one of Europe”, assuring European leaders that his nation was intent on constructing a new world order along with what he referred to as “our cherished allies and our oldest buddies”. The president of the European Fee, Ursula von der Leyen, stated she was “very a lot reassured” by these remarks.
Nevertheless, Rubio additionally repeated a number of of the Trump administration’s acquainted criticisms of Europe’s method to immigration and local weather motion, cautioning that the US is ready to chart its new path alone. And whereas he claimed his nation needs to reinvigorate the transtlantic alliance, Rubio questioned Europe’s will and capability to take action.
The speech underscored the steadiness Rubio should strike between aligning himself with the political priorities of Donald Trump and reassuring European companions. In contrast to a lot of the Trump administration, the secretary of state understands that the US must be extra diplomatic with Europe to realize its international coverage targets.
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This isn’t the case with Vance. One 12 months in the past, he chastised Europe for its migration insurance policies and accused its governments of suppressing free speech and populist events. He claimed that the best menace to Europe’s safety got here “from inside”, reasonably than Russia. In response to Vance, Europe had change into too politically appropriate, abandoning elementary values within the course of.
Vance’s speech got here as a shock to European leaders within the viewers. They weren’t utterly ready for such a blistering assault, having thought he would focus his deal with largely on the warfare in Ukraine. The speech drew reward from Moscow, together with from former Russian president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, and triggered a 12 months of turmoil in transatlantic relations.
In his speech, Vance echoed Trump’s view of Europe – nevertheless it’s a view that matches his personal. The vice-president has by no means actually revered Europe. This was made clear in a sequence of leaked messages between Vance and different US nationwide safety officers in March 2025.
When Vance mentioned plans for a army strike in opposition to Houthi forces in Yemen, which he famous posed a bigger menace to European transport than American commerce, he lamented: “I hate bailing out Europe once more.” Although he wrote in his 2016 memoir that visiting the UK was a childhood dream, Vance had change into a Euro sceptic.
This contrasts with Rubio, who has historically been a powerful supporter of Europe and the transatlantic alliance. Though ideologically hawkish in international coverage, he has by no means been an isolationist – and has constantly backed conventional collective safety establishments resembling Nato.
In 2015, Rubio declared that the US should make a troublesome response to any Russian aggression in opposition to its Nato ally Turkey. And in 2019, he was a part of a bi-partisan effort to stop any US president from leaving the Nato alliance. He stated: “It’s important to our nationwide safety and the safety of our allies in Europe that america stay engaged and play an lively position in Nato.”
This stance initially put Rubio at odds with Trump. However after Trump’s election defeat in 2020, Rubio recalibrated and slowly gained his belief. And since coming into Trump’s interior circle, he has thrived. Rubio now serves because the president’s nationwide safety advisor in addition to secretary of state, and has gained great affect in international affairs.
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Rubio’s delicate steadiness
To realize a lot energy, Rubio has needed to be ideologically versatile. In Latin America, the place his hardline stance in opposition to socialist regimes strongly aligns with Trump’s international coverage targets, Rubio is within the driver’s seat and has largely decided what the US’s pursuits are. This has included urgent for the ouster of Venezuelan chief Nicolás Maduro, taking a troublesome stance on Cuba, and pressuring Panama to push out Chinese language affect.
However outdoors of Latin America, Rubio has adopted a extra measured communication fashion. He has engaged in injury management whereas in the end clarifying and reinforcing Trump’s positions.
Trump prefers a world the place the US acts unilaterally and ignores the rules-based worldwide order. This has been illustrated by the US assaults on Iranian nuclear websites in 2025, in addition to the newer seize of Maduro and threats to take management of Greenland from Denmark.
Rubio tried to defuse tensions with Denmark in January, claiming the US merely wished to buy Greenland reasonably than intervene militarily. He has additionally toned down his hawkishness on Russia, a rustic Trump has sought to forge nearer relations with. In 2016, Rubio had acknowledged that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, posed the most important menace to international safety.
As lately as 2024, Rubio praised the bravery of Ukrainians of their combat in opposition to Russia. However in his Munich deal with, he barely talked about Ukraine, on which Trump has been making use of stress to finish the warfare. Rubio additionally didn’t seem at a gathering with European allies instantly earlier than the convention to debate the battle in Ukraine, claiming there was a scheduling problem.
Later, he reportedly supplied Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky some assurances of US dedication. Regardless of additionally warning that Ukraine would want to settle for arduous concessions to finish the warfare, this was an enchancment from Vance’s previous questioning of why the US was spending thousands and thousands of {dollars} defending a “few miles of territory”.
In the end, whereas Rubio’s speech in Munich was much less divisive and stunning than Vance’s a 12 months earlier, it doesn’t resemble any important change in US international coverage below Trump. The US has some shared pursuits with Europe, however not shared values.
