Why Rubio's compliments towards Europe failed to prevent a rift among allies

As soon as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio rose to address this year’s Munich Security Conference, it was evident that the Trump administration intended to change its rhetoric toward America’s longstanding European allies.

While Vice President JD Vance used his remarks last year to hector and insult European leaders, Rubio seemed eager to flatter.

After paying homage to European history and culture – highlighting various achievements, from the Sistine Chapel to the Beatles – he acknowledged that the United States is itself a child of Europe.

It all sounded very nice to European ears after a year that had horrified everyone committed to the transatlantic relationship. 

Read more about Marco Rubio’s speech and what lies behind in the column by former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt: Sugar-coated Trump: why US sent Rubio to Munich and what this means for Europe.

After the applause died down, it soon became obvious that the Trump administration’s basic message remains the same. Both in its substance and its perspective on the world, the author notes.

In Bildt’s view, Rubio’s speech revealed a deep gulf between the Trump administration and the Europeans in the room.

"Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine was mentioned only in passing, and with nary a hint of criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin," Bildt points out.

He suggests that for the Trump administration, however, the issue does not even bear mentioning. In terms of basic threat perceptions, the gulf between the US and Europe could hardly be wider.

The former Swedish prime minister also draws attention to how Rubio presented events in a MAGA-style narrative – a kind of distorted mirror.

According to Rubio, the decades since the end of the Cold War were based on a "dangerous delusion" and a "dogmatic vision of free and unfettered trade," he argued. The "rules-based global order" is "an overused term" that ignores the lessons from 5,000 years of human history and has driven too many societies to "appease a climate cult."

Bildt adds that the "rules-based order" is a MAGA bogeyman.

"Obviously, no European outside of the continent’s most extreme political fringes shares this attitude. We understand that the rules-based global order was never perfect, and that anyone who is inclined to list its failures and shortcomings can do so easily.

But we also know that its achievements following the last bloody conflict between great powers have been close to miraculous," the former Swedish prime minister notes.

He reminds readers that during the decades-long period of relative peace and stability following World War II, the global population tripled, life expectancy doubled, and the world economy grew 15-fold.

Bildt emphasizes that it was the longest period without a war between great powers since the end of the Roman Empire. There simply is no denying that networks of global rules, norms, and agreements were a key factor in making this possible.

At the same time, he has no doubt that this order is now under serious threat: "By contrast, Europeans believe that what remains of the rules-based order is worth preserving."

The former Swedish official stresses that Europe has no interest in a world subject to the capricious whims of the mighty, where rights have no meaning because the vulnerable can always be thrown to the wolves.

Rubio’s remarks didn’t go quite that far, Bildt notes, but statements from others in the Trump administration have.

"The transatlantic divide has become massive, and it is still widening," the former Swedish prime minister concludes.