New York Times: The disputes this past year between Washington and Europe — over tariffs, Greenland, free speech for right-wing political parties and the Trump administration’s declaration that Europe is headed to “civilizational erasure” unless it controls its borders — have obscured a more fundamental shift. Leaders of several European nations said that after that series of shocks they are talking about “de-risking” from the United States.
It is a term previously reserved for describing a strategy of avoiding over-dependence on China, or fragile supply chains for Russian oil or critical minerals. It is now applied to the United States. The Europeans now warn of threats that the Americans, in their speeches to the conference, never acknowledged. And among them is Mr. Trump’s unpredictability…
BBC: Marco Rubio has assured European leaders the US does not plan to abandon the transatlantic alliance, saying its destiny “will always be intertwined” with the continent’s.
The US secretary of state told the Munich Security Conference: “We do not seek to separate, but to revitalise an old friendship and renew the greatest civilisation in human history.”…
Politico: Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, he made no apology for the Trump administration’s repeated calls to annex Greenland or at times harsh criticisms of Europe, but he took a conciliatory tone — stressing that the U.S. wants to cooperate with Europe to “revitalize an old friendship.”
“We do not want allies to rationalize the broken status quo rather than reckon with what is necessary to fix it,” Rubio said. “We in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline.” …