European leaders voiced relief over a reassuring speech by the US secretary of state, but nevertheless warned that the transatlantic relationship had irreparably fractured.
Marco Rubio’s address to an annual gathering of security officials in Munich was part of efforts to reset rocky ties between once-close allies, and he repeatedly insisted the US had an “unbreakable link” with Europe.
While his remarks were broadly welcomed, European leaders pointed to American actions over the past year — trade pressure, demands to annex European lands, curbing support to Ukraine, to name a few — as having created a permanent rift. “I don’t think we will be doing business as usual,” Latvia’s prime minister told Politico.
