American and European interests are ‘intertwined,’ says Secretary of State Rubio

“We care deeply about your future and ours,” Rubio said at the Munich Security Conference (MSC).

“We want Europe to be strong,” he said. “We believe that Europe must survive because the two great wars of the last century serve for us as a great reminder of history that our fate is ultimately and always will be intertwined with yours.”

US President Donald Trump has often criticized Europe for being too dependent on the US for its security and has pushed NATO allies to boost defense spending. His push for ownership of Greenland, a Danish territory, has also roiled European leaders in recent months.

“We do not need to give up the system of international cooperation we created, and we do not need to dismantle the global institutions of the old order that we built together. But these must be reformed. These must be rebuilt.” Rubio said.

The top US diplomat told the meeting of European leaders that US leadership has managed to resolve thorny issues such as the Israel-Gaza conflict and has made progress in ending Russia’s war with Ukraine, which multilateral organizations including the UN have so far failed to do.

“The United Nations still has enormous potential to be an instrument for good in the world, but we cannot ignore that today, on the most pressing issues before us, they have no answers and have played virtually no role. They could not solve the war in Gaza,” Rubio said. “Instead, it was the American leadership that freed the prisoners from the barbarians and brokered a fragile truce. It did not resolve the war in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude to the US for its help in Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

“I am grateful to every American heart that helped us no matter what happened. Thank you. Without you, Americans, Europeans and everyone who stood by our side, it would have been very, very difficult to persevere,” Zelenskyy said to applause.

But he criticized Trump’s predecessor administration for being slow to increase military aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy also had harsh words for the Iranian government, which he accused of supplying the drones Russia uses to attack Ukrainian territory.

“Ukraine does not share a border with Iran and we have never had a conflict of interest with the Iranian regime,” Zelenskyy said. “But the Iranian Shahed drones that they sold to Russia are mainly killing our people, the Ukrainians, and destroying our infrastructure.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, alongside Zelenskyy, urged member states to increase military support to Ukraine under the alliance’s Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative.

“Keep (Ukraine) strong in the fight. They will do it, but they need our support.” said Rutte.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after Rubio at the conference that the region faces “the very clear threat of outside forces seeking to weaken our union from within, and the return of openly hostile competition and power relations.”

Von der Leyen said Europe must become more independent “in every dimension that affects our security and prosperity, defense and energy, economy and trade, raw materials and digital technology.”

But she stressed that this does not mean weakening the transatlantic bond.

“The opposite is true and we just heard that from Secretary of State Rubio. An independent Europe is a strong Europe and a strong Europe creates a stronger transatlantic alliance.”

On Friday, the EU’s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, urged European leaders to resist Russian aggression.

“The lesson we have learned is that appeasement always brings new wars,” Kallas told CNBC interview. “That’s very clear. If that’s what you think, OK, let them have this territory. … We’re going to have a peace that will never actually work. It actually increases the appetite. They walked away with more territory and more valuables than before.”

Wolfgang Ischinger, the organization’s chairman, also told CNBC on Friday before the conference that it is Europe’s “own fault” that its power on the world stage has diminished.

“Europe has not been able to speak with one voice against China and about China, Europe has not been able to come up with one voice with a clear concept on the future of the Middle East, including on how or not to deal with the Iranian nuclear issue,” said Ischinger, a former German ambassador to the US.

Earlier this week, the MSC published its 2026 report, for which Ischinger wrote the foreword. It warned that “the world has entered a period of wrecking ball politics,” in which “sweeping destruction… is the order of the day.”

The report said Trump was “at the forefront of those who pledge to free their countries from the constraints of the existing order and rebuild stronger, more prosperous nations,” arguing that he was just one movement “driven by resentment and regret over the liberal trajectory their societies have taken.”

Ischinger said the Europeans were “completely on the sidelines” in the Gaza and Ukraine negotiations.

Rubio said the US is pursuing a “revived alliance” with Europe, “one that does not make the polite pretense that our way of life is just one among many and that asks for permission before acting.”

In a wide-ranging speech, Rubio criticized past policies that encouraged mass migration, outsourced supply chains and contributed to “deindustrialization,” which he said was “not inevitable.”

“It was a conscious policy choice, a decades-long economic enterprise that robbed our countries of their wealth, their productive capacity and their independence. And the loss of our supply chain sovereignty was not a function of a prosperous and healthy system of global trade. It was foolish,” Rubio said.

Rubio also discussed how greater transatlantic cooperation could reposition the West to lead 21st century industries.

“Together we can reindustrialize our economies and rebuild our ability to defend our people,” he said.

“Commercial spaceflight and advanced artificial intelligence, industrial automation and flex manufacturing, creating a Western supply chain for crucial minerals not vulnerable to extortion by other powers, and a concerted effort to compete for market share in the economies of the global South.”