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Europe thinks through de-risking from the US

Marco Rubio’s conciliatory speech at the Munich Security Conference does little to distract from Trump’s “wrecking ball politics”

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    • US-Europe relations are at their most serious rupture in decades, perhaps even the post-war era, the writer notes.
    • US-Europe relations are at their most serious rupture in decades, perhaps even the post-war era, the writer notes. PHOTO: REUTERS

    Andrew Hammond

    Published Thu, Feb 19, 2026 · 05:06 PM

    THE Munich Security Conference is Europe’s premier geopolitical annual summit, comparable to Singapore’s Shangri La Dialogue. Yet, at this year’s edition, which took place from Feb 13 to 15, highlights came not from the continent’s leaders, but US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

    While the two met to finalise arrangements for US President Donald Trump’s spring visit to China and discuss a sustainable settlement to the Ukraine war – now entering its fifth year – Munich’s real focus was Rubio’s vision for a transatlantic future, amid what the event organisers called Trump’s “wrecking ball politics”.

    This follows more than a year of tensions, including US tariffs and wider economic threats against Europe, plus Trump’s constant accommodation of Russia in the Ukraine war, and sabre-rattling around his desired US acquisition of Greenland.

    US-Europe relationsEU-China relationsMarco RubioTrump administrationGeopoliticsgeoeconomics

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