FILE: Trump administration views of European allies ahead of Munich Security Conference

Record ID: 2340205

  • Title: FILE: Trump administration views of European allies ahead of Munich Security Conference
  • Date: 16th January 2026
  • Summary: WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES (FILE - AUGUST 18, 2025) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) EUROPEAN LEADERS EXITING THE STATE DINING ROOM OF THE WHITE HOUSE AND PROCEEDING TOWARD THE CROSS HALL OF THE WHITE HOUSE, LED BY TRUMP AND UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY LEADERS POSING FOR PHOTO / LEAVING WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (FILE - DECEMBER 8, 2025) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) TRUMP
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: Davos Europe President Trump United States World Economic Forum
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: Various
  • Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA006456706012026RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead a sizeable U.S. delegation to the Munich Security Conference starting on Friday (February 13), underscoring the importance of transatlantic relations despite a "crisis of trust", the head of the forum said.
    Wolfgang Ischinger, the former diplomat who chairs the annual gathering of security experts and policymakers, said more than 50 members of the U.S. Congress were expected, including Democratic U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
    Fifteen prime ministers or heads of state from the European Union will also attend the conference, which German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will open on Friday and continues until Sunday (February 15), he said.
    At last year's conference, U.S. Vice President JD Vance accused European leaders of censoring free speech and failing to control immigration.
    The comments by Vance, who also met Alternative for Germany party leader Alice Weidel, began a series of criticisms of Europe by members of President Donald Trump's administration that have unsettled Washington's European allies.
    Most recently, Trump's speech at the 2026 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos chastised Europeans on issues ranging from wind power and the environment to immigration and geopolitics, while casting himself as a defender of Western values.
    Rather than focusing on the economic message his aides had previewed, Trump delivered more than an hour of scolding and threats aimed at countries already unnerved by his push to seize territory from Denmark, which is a longtime U.S. NATO ally.
    Trump also used his speech to settle scores on other grievances. He rounded on Britain over extracting insufficient oil from the North Sea, Switzerland over its trade surplus in goods with the U.S., France over its pharmaceutical policy, Canada for what he saw as its ingratitude and NATO for its unwillingness to bend to U.S. interests.
    His speech came at a time of difficult relations with Europe over Ukraine, Greenland and the continents security.
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