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Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Brussels on Thursday for a gathering of NATO foreign ministers amid high anxiety over the Trump administration\u2019s approach to Europe, including the war in Ukraine, relations with Russia and President Trump\u2019s growing trade war with the continent.<\/p>\n
Mr. Rubio\u2019s visit to the alliance\u2019s headquarters comes as relations between the United States and Europe have abruptly shifted from the close cooperation of the Biden era to mistrust and acrimony under Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n
At the same time, NATO officials may welcome a chance to confer with Mr. Rubio, whom many consider the most pro-alliance member of Mr. Trump\u2019s national security team.<\/p>\n
As a senator in 2023, representing Florida, Mr. Rubio cosponsored legislation requiring any president to seek the Senate\u2019s advice and consent before withdrawing from the organization. Former aides say Mr. Trump has privately mused about taking that step, which would shatter the 32-nation military alliance formed to counter Russia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Foreign officials who have dealt with Mr. Rubio since he became Mr. Trump\u2019s top diplomat have described him as downplaying some of Mr. Trump\u2019s wilder ideas and translating them into more realistic policy approaches, although they also question whether he truly speaks for a president with whom he does not have a close personal relationship.<\/p>\n
And there is only so much Mr. Rubio can do to sugarcoat Mr. Trump\u2019s agenda, which is driven by a view that Europe economically exploits the United States, is culturally out of sync with the values of Mr. Trump\u2019s political movement and must do business with Russia\u2019s president, Vladimir V. Putin.<\/p>\n
Mr. Rubio also arrives just a day after Mr. Trump announced 20 percent tariffs<\/a> on imports from the European Union. At the White House on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said of the E.U.: \u201cThey rip us off. It\u2019s so sad to see. It\u2019s so pathetic.\u201d<\/p>\n In meetings with NATO ministers, Mr. Rubio is expected to press Mr. Trump\u2019s call for a swift end to the war in Ukraine, an approach that alarms many European leaders who overwhelmingly support Kyiv and fear that Mr. Trump will wind up appeasing Mr. Putin.<\/p>\n Mr. Rubio\u2019s fellow ministers will do their best to shape the Trump administration\u2019s efforts to broker a deal between Kyiv and Moscow, which have stalled over wide gaps between the warring parties, and to urge the United States not to abandon Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Rubio is also likely to reiterate Mr. Trump\u2019s demand that NATO countries increase their military spending to 5 percent of their gross domestic product, even as many of them struggle to meet spending goals of 2 percent that the alliance set years ago. Mr. Trump and other top American officials believe that the alliance relies too heavily on the United States for protection.<\/p>\n That was made painfully clear to European officials by a discussion among top Trump administration officials last month on the Signal app<\/a> that unwittingly included a journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic magazine. During the text chain, about a U.S. plan to bomb Houthi militants in Yemen, Vice President JD Vance complained that America would \u201cagain\u201d be \u201cbailing out\u201d Europe by taking unilateral action to protect international shipping lanes that the Houthis have attacked.<\/p>\n \u201cI fully share your loathing of European freeloading,\u201d Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth responded. \u201cIt\u2019s PATHETIC.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Trump himself has warned that he may not come to the defense of NATO countries that he feels are not spending enough on their militaries, despite the alliance\u2019s commitment to mutual self-defense. \u201cIf they don\u2019t pay, I\u2019m not going to defend them,\u201d the president told reporters last month.<\/p>\n An additional point of tension is Mr. Trump\u2019s determination to acquire the island of Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO member. Mr. Trump has shocked officials from Denmark and other NATO countries by declining to rule out taking Greenland by force, although Mr. Vance said on a recent visit to the island that military action was not under consideration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Denmark\u2019s foreign minister will attend the gathering in Brussels, although it is unclear whether he and Mr. Rubio will discuss Greenland. Danish officials say they cannot negotiate Greenland\u2019s fate on their own because the island has the right of self-determination.<\/p>\n Mr. Rubio will be joined in Brussels by the new U.S. ambassador to NATO, Matthew G. Whitaker<\/a>, whom the Senate narrowly confirmed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n NATO officials are unsure what to make of Mr. Whitaker, who briefly served as acting attorney general during Mr. Trump\u2019s first term but has no foreign policy experience. During his confirmation hearing, Mr. Whitaker assured senators that the United States\u2019 commitment to NATO was \u201cironclad.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n