MUNICH — European leaders who worry about an American withdrawal from other Western allies are ignoring the facts about U.S. foreign policy under President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo argued Saturday.
“I’m happy to report that the death of the trans-Atlantic alliance is grossly overexaggerated,” Pompeo told the Munich Security Conference.
That blithe comment introduced an extended rejection of European criticism of American foreign policy. The conference organizers identified “Westlessness” as the theme of this year’s gathering, but Pompeo panned the idea as nothing but an unpleasant fantasy.
“So let’s be straight-up: The United States is out there fighting alongside you for sovereignty and freedom,” he said. “We should have confidence in our alliances and our friends. The free West has a far brighter future than illiberal alternatives … Don’t be fooled. Don’t be fooled by those who say otherwise.”
That message defied the misgivings of U.S. allies.
“And under its current administration, our closest ally, the United States of America, rejects the very concept of an international community,” German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the conference Friday. “Every country, it believes, should look after itself and put its own interests before all others … ‘Great again’ — even at the expense of neighbors and partners.”
Pompeo, without mentioning Steinmeier by name, made a point to argue that this assertion doesn’t “reflect reality.” He touted major U.S.-led military exercises in Europe and announcing $1 billion in aid the Three Seas Initiative, in an effort to help develop the energy sector in the Central and Eastern European countries that connect the Adriatic, Baltic, and Black Seas.
“Are these actions, these American actions, are they consistent with the claim that America ‘has come to question the very worth of its mantle of global leadership?’” Pompeo asked, citing a 2017 speech by Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland.
Pompeo’s conversations with allies have been strained by disputes over the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, as European leaders have been angered by Trump’s withdrawal from a pact that they credited with defusing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. He downplayed that dispute as mere “tactical differences” about how to respond to a universally recognized threat, while recalling that U.S. and European governments clashed even during the Cold War.
“My observation about the work that’s between us is there will always be noise, there will always be naysayers,” he said during a brief question-and-answer session. “Our task as leaders will be to rise above that. It’s to stay focused on the things that really matter to us.”
