Rubio strikes warmer tone as Trump's upheaval of Atlantic ties looms over Munich meet
- - Rubio strikes warmer tone as Trump's upheaval of Atlantic ties looms over Munich meet
By Humeyra Pamuk, Sarah Marsh and Andrew GrayFebruary 13, 2026 at 6:05 AM
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1 / 5U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives for the Munich Security Conference in MunichU.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives for the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, February 13, 2026. Alex Brandon/Pool via REUTERS
By Humeyra Pamuk, Sarah Marsh and Andrew Gray
BERLIN/MUNICH, Feb 13 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned transatlantic ties faced a "defining moment" in a rapidly changing world but struck a warmer tone ahead of the Munich Security Conference on Friday after a year of unprecedented upheaval.
At the same gathering of top security officials last year, Vice President JD Vance had attacked European allies, triggering a series of confrontations, with the U.S. seemingly set on dismantling much of the international order it helped to build.
In response, Washington's partners have been pushing to chart a more independent course while preserving the basis of the alliance, as they face myriad threats from Russia's war in Ukraine to massive ructions in global trade.
"I think it's at a defining moment ... the world is changing very fast right in front of us," Rubio said before departing for Munich.
"The Old World is gone, frankly, the world I grew up in, and we live in a new era in geopolitics, and it's going to require all of us to re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be."
"(The U.S. is) deeply tied to Europe, and our futures have always been linked and will continue to be," said Rubio, who is a potential rival to Vance for the 2028 U.S. presidential race. "So we've just got to talk about what that future looks like."
'WRECKING-BALL POLITICS' THREATEN ALLIANCE
This year's meeting comes against a backdrop of multiple conflicts, including war in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan.
"I cannot remember a time when we had more simultaneous wars, crises, and conflicts of that dimension," Wolfgang Ischinger, the former German diplomat who heads the forum, told a gathering earlier this week.
Transatlantic ties have long been central to the Munich Security Conference, which began as a Cold War forum for Western defence debate. But the unquestioned assumption of cooperation that underpinned it has been upended by what Ischinger called "wrecking-ball politics" in which "sweeping destruction – rather than careful reforms and policy corrections – is the order of the day".
U.S. President Donald Trump has toppled Venezuela’s leader, threatened other Latin American countries with similar military action, imposed tariffs on friends and foes alike and talked openly about annexing Greenland - a move that could effectively end the NATO alliance.
Last year's speech by Vance at the conference, accusing European leaders of censoring free speech and failing to control immigration, was a milestone in the deterioration of relations.
The Trump administration's harsh new tone, including a dire warning that Europe faces "civilisational erasure", has shaken its allies, which have pledged to step up spending on their own militaries after decades of neglect.
Europe's dependence on U.S. military support will take years to undo, however, leaving it vulnerable as the standoff with Russia over the Ukraine war persists.
Germany's foreign minister said on Friday that recent comments by U.S. officials have caused irritation within NATO.
"This alliance is also under pressure. There is alienation, there is irritation about some of the things we hear from Washington. We need to talk about this here together," Johann Wadephul told German broadcaster ARD.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will open the conference with a speech on Friday afternoon, while around 70 heads of state and government and more than 140 ministers are expected under tight security in Munich.
Prominent attendees include Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Christine Lagarde is due to be the first European Central Bank president to address the event, underlining how efforts to make Europe's economy more resilient are seen as part of the wider political stakes.
Russia is not sending a delegation and the forum withdrew invitations to Iranian officials after the Tehran government's countrywide crackdown on protests last month, in which thousands of people have been reported killed. Instead the son of the last Shah of Iran is expected to give a speech, while a large Iranian opposition rally is seen taking place in the city.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Sarah Marsh, Andrew Gray, Mark John, Ludwig Burger; Writing by Sarah Marsh and Matthias Williams; Editing by James Mackenzie and Toby Chopra)
Source: “AOL Money”
