US Secretary of State Marco Rubio headed Wednesday to a NATO meeting in Europe as transatlantic tensions soar, with President Donald Trump unleashing a trade war and challenging Denmark's sovereignty over Greenland.
Rubio flew out of Andrews Air Force Base shortly after Trump made his long-awaited announcement of sweeping global tariffs, part of an effort to remake the world's economic order and shatter decades of efforts toward freer trade.
European allies have warned they will respond in kind, although Britain, which has left the European Union, said Wednesday it would take its time as it seeks a
Rubio, as the top US diplomat, has used more delicate language than Trump. But ahead of his trip, he said Trump was right "that the state of global trade is completely unfair to America."
"So I get why all these countries are unhappy, because they got a great deal going on and they want to keep it going," Rubio said in a Fox News Radio interview in March.
Rubio will be taking part in two days of talks among NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, which will prepare for a June leaders' summit in The Hague.
The new US administration has quickly shown itself ideologically at odds with much of Europe. Vice President JD Vance made the Trump team's European debut in February by calling on Germany to stop shunning the far right.
Other than Canada, which Trump has mocked as the 51st US state, perhaps no ally has come under as much fire as Denmark.
Trump covets its Arctic territory Greenland, which is rich in resources and strategically located.
Vance flew last week to an American space base there and said: "Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland."
Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who hopes to meet Rubio in Brussels, said that Denmark did "not appreciate the tone" of Vance.
"This is not how you speak to your close allies, and I still consider Denmark and the United States to be close allies," Rasmussen said on X after Vance's trip.
Rubio flew out of Andrews Air Force Base shortly after Trump made his long-awaited announcement of sweeping global tariffs, part of an effort to remake the world's economic order and shatter decades of efforts toward freer trade.
European allies have warned they will respond in kind, although Britain, which has left the European Union, said Wednesday it would take its time as it seeks a
Rubio, as the top US diplomat, has used more delicate language than Trump. But ahead of his trip, he said Trump was right "that the state of global trade is completely unfair to America."
"So I get why all these countries are unhappy, because they got a great deal going on and they want to keep it going," Rubio said in a Fox News Radio interview in March.
Rubio will be taking part in two days of talks among NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, which will prepare for a June leaders' summit in The Hague.
The new US administration has quickly shown itself ideologically at odds with much of Europe. Vice President JD Vance made the Trump team's European debut in February by calling on Germany to stop shunning the far right.
Other than Canada, which Trump has mocked as the 51st US state, perhaps no ally has come under as much fire as Denmark.
Trump covets its Arctic territory Greenland, which is rich in resources and strategically located.
Vance flew last week to an American space base there and said: "Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland."
Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who hopes to meet Rubio in Brussels, said that Denmark did "not appreciate the tone" of Vance.
"This is not how you speak to your close allies, and I still consider Denmark and the United States to be close allies," Rasmussen said on X after Vance's trip.
