US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not be present at the NATO meeting in Brussels.Image: keystone
It is rare for a US Secretary of State to be absent from a NATO meeting without good reason. Marco Rubio’s rejection sends a worrying signal.
12/02/2025, 06:0712/02/2025, 06:07
Christoph Cöln / t-online
Despite ongoing negotiations for a peace solution to the war in Ukraine, the US government does not consider it necessary for Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio to attend a long-planned NATO meeting. “It would be completely unrealistic to expect him at every meeting,” replied a Foreign Ministry spokesman when asked by the German Press Agency why Rubio did not arrive in Brussels for the appointment. Washington said the minister had already taken part in dozens of meetings with NATO allies.
US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau had previously announced that he would take part in the discussions in the Belgian capital and was on his way there. The meeting on Wednesday will, among other things, focus on further support for Ukraine. According to his ministry, Rubio, on the other hand, will take part in unspecified meetings at the White House on Tuesday. The day before, he spoke with his German colleague Johann Wadephul about the efforts for peace in Ukraine, as the US State Department briefly announced.
The first time since 2003
It is highly unusual for a US Secretary of State not to personally attend a formal NATO foreign ministers meeting. The long-time former NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu (2010-2023) wrote after the first rumors about a cancellation became known on the social network “That would send the wrong signal, especially now when America should coordinate even more closely with European allies on Ukraine,” she commented.
According to the British BBC, the last time a US Secretary of State did not attend a NATO meeting was in 2003. At that time, Republican Colin Powell missed a meeting because of the Iraq War. In 2017, Rex Tillerson also threatened to cancel the important meeting – after NATO changed its schedule to accommodate the US diplomat, Tillerson did attend. The former oil executive served for a short time as Secretary of State in Donald Trump’s first administration.
Mediator role instead of NATO member?
A possible background in Brussels is that at least parts of the US government obviously see NATO as an obstacle to the successful conclusion of President Donald Trump’s latest initiative to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The recently announced draft of a 28-point peace plan contained, among other things, a passage according to which NATO should completely forego accepting further members.
In another point, it also seemed as if the USA no longer saw itself as a normal NATO member, but as an outsider. It said: “A dialogue between Russia and NATO will be conducted under the mediation of the United States to clarify all security issues and create conditions for de-escalation in order to ensure global security and increase opportunities for cooperation and future economic development.”
Leading European NATO members such as Germany, France and Italy criticized these passages in the draft text. The Americans then agreed that NATO issues would initially be dealt with separately with the allies. The same also applies to EU-related topics.
US President Trump has already threatened several times that the US could leave NATO if certain members do not meet the payment obligations he demands. Both during his first term in office as well as in the 2024 election campaign and at the beginning of his second term in the White House, the Republican threatened the other NATO members with drastic consequences.
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