Rubio's speech to European allies takes softer tone but sticks to
Trump's firm stance
[February 14, 2026]
By MATTHEW LEE, EMMA BURROWS and GEIR MOULSON
MUNICH (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a reassuring
message to America’s allies on Saturday, striking a less aggressive but
still firm tone about the administration’s intent to reshape the
trans-Atlantic alliance and push its priorities after more than a year
of President Donald Trump’s often-hostile rhetoric toward traditional
allies.
Reminding his audience at the annual Munich Security Conference about
America’s 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 international institutions that have been
the bulwark of the post-World War II world order.
Rubio addressed the conference a year after Vice President JD Vance
stunned the same audience with a harsh critique of European values. A
series of statements and moves from the Trump administration targeting
allies followed, including Trump’s short-lived threat last month to
impose new tariffs on several European countries in a bid to secure U.S.
control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.
On Friday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz had opened this year's
gathering by calling for the U.S. and Europe to “repair and revive
trans-Atlantic trust together,” saying that even the U.S. isn’t powerful
enough to go it alone in an world whose old order no longer exists. 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.
‘A child of Europe’
While offering a calmer and more reassuring tone than the one often
heard over the past year, Rubio made clear that the Trump administration
is sticking to its guns on policy. He denounced “a climate cult” and “an
unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our
societies.”
Rubio argued that the “euphoria” of the Western victory in the Cold War
led to a "dangerous delusion that we had entered ‘the end of history,’
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.”
“We made these mistakes together and now together we owe it to our
people to face those facts and to move forward to rebuild,” Rubio said.
“This is why we Americans may sometimes come off as a little direct and
urgent in our counsel," he said. "This is why President Trump demands
seriousness and reciprocity from our friends here in Europe.”
Rubio said that an end of the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal
nor our wish,” adding that "our home may be in the Western hemisphere,
but we will always be a child of Europe.”
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’ troops in Afghanistan that drew an outcry. "And I’m
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.”
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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks at the Munich Security
Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP
Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool)
U.S. officials accompanying Rubio said his message was much the same
as Vance’s last year but was intended to have a softer landing on
the audience, which they acknowledged had recoiled at much of
Trump’s rhetoric over the past year.
Europeans reassured but not complacent
The president of the European Union's executive commission, Ursula
von der Leyen, said Rubio's speech was “very reassuring” but noted
that “in the administration, some have a harsher tone on these
topics.”
In her speech to the conference, she stressed that “Europe must
become more independent,” including on defense. She insisted on
Europe's “digital sovereignty” — its approach to hate speech on
social media.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that “we shouldn’t get in
the warm bath of complacency. He said the U.K. must re-forge closer
ties with Europe to help the continent “stand on our own two feet”
in its own defense, and said there needs to be investment that
“moves us from overdependence to interdependence.”
Hanno Pevkur, the defense minister of EU and NATO member Estonia,
said it was "quite a bold statement to say that America is ‘a child
of Europe’.”
“It was a good speech, needed here today, but that doesn’t mean that
we can rest on pillows now," he told The Associated Press. “So still
a lot of work has to be done."
The conference pointed to tensions beyond those in the
trans-Atlantic alliance.
Speaking after Rubio, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing
felt “gratified” that Trump respects President Xi Jinping and China,
but warned that some voices in the U.S. are leery of China’s rise.
“We see that some forces and some people are still trying their best
to suppress and contain China, and are still attacking and
slandering China by any means,” Wang said.
He cautioned that “law of the jungle and unilateralism have taken
hold” and said some countries “even revive the Cold War mentality.”
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Moulson reported from Berlin. Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to
this report.
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