Clash of Cultures With Trump World Sees Europeans Gang Together

If there was one moment on day one that captured the essence of this year’s Munich Security Conference, it came from Mike Waltz, US ambassador to the United Nations.Author of the article:You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.(Bloomberg) — If there was one moment on day one that captured the essence of this year’s Munich Security Conference, it came from Mike Waltz, US ambassador to the United Nations.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.During a panel Friday, Waltz sparred with the European Union’s chief foreign envoy, Kaja Kallas, one of a string of officials riffing on the meeting’s guiding theme, that Donald Trump is dismantling the global order that has prevailed since World War II.The world, Waltz said, is not on the brink, quite the opposite. And it’s all thanks to Trump’s whirlwind first year.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againInterested in more newsletters? Browse here.“We are returning the world from the brink — where it was 18 months ago,” Waltz said. And he went on to list what he saw as some of the president’s key achievements, helping to stop the fighting in Gaza, efforts to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, and the military intervention to remove Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.It was a rebuttal that speaks to the radically different world views on either side of the Atlantic. They were on show at this year’s conference, where political leaders and security and defense chiefs are coming to terms with a moment when, in the words of the organizers, the global order “has entered a period of wrecking-ball politics.” In practice, that means wrestling with an aggressive Russia, China’s push for superpower status, and a US administration that treats allies and adversaries alike. European governments, in particular, are deliberating how far they’re willing to distance themselves from a US president who has strained mutual ties to near breaking point. “Europe has to learn to become a geopolitical power,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in an evening speech that focused on the bloc’s strengths, in aiding Ukraine, standing up to Russia, and which has to ensure a a role in determing the postwar security architecture. “This Europe will be a good ally and partner for the United States of America,” he said.It was a markedly upbeat performance — delivered in English — by the French leader, who departed from his message of positivity to take a slap at US Vice President JD Vance’s take-down of free speech in Europe that shocked attendees at last year’s conference. It would be “crazy” to not regulate social media in the name of free speech, he said, and Europe must “protect the integrity of our democracies.” Macron’s “message of hope and determination” followed a more sober assessment earlier in the day by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who talked of the need “to recognize the new reality.” His opening speech amounted to a rallying cry for a reinforced Europe with Germany at its center. Merz sees Berlin embracing its position as the EU’s undisputed political and military heavyweight as well as its biggest economy.With his government spending hundreds of billions of euros on defense, Merz signaled Germany’s intention to have the strongest conventional army in Europe. And he said he’s talked with Macron about European nuclear deterrence, potentially extending France’s deterrent continent-wide. While stepping up, he was at pains to make it clear he wants to work in lockstep with Germany’s allies. “We will never go it alone,” he said.Like Macron, Merz laced his speech with lines that were impossible to interpret as anything other than digs at the Trump administration, advocating for “a political order in which we can rely on agreements made” — unlike Trump’s attempts to revise deals like the USMCA, for example.But the chancellor — a product of postwar West Germany, where the US troop presence provided the bulwark against the Soviet bloc — also argued for a new and “healthier” transatlantic relationship, switching to English to make a plea to the US delegation of the value of NATO to all its members, America included.The Munich Security Conference isn’t just a talking shop, but an opportunity for diplomacy in an informal setting. So there were closed-door meetings on Ukraine, defense, European-only side chats, and a string of one-on-ones with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is leading the US delegation.Signs of the underlying tensions occasionally spilled out into the open.“Who are you to lecture me?”During a panel on Russia, Michael Gahler, a German member of the European Parliament, asked two US senators, Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal, if they could reassure him that Trump will support their bill to impose up to 500% tariffs on countries for doing business with Moscow.The answer was quick and scathing.“The European parliament failed miserably in deterring aggression,” Graham shot back. “Who are you to lecture me?”If Trump’s challenge to the international order is the proverbial elephant in the room in Munich, the global nature of the upheaval being witnessed was made clear by Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi just won a landslide on the back of tensions with neighboring China over Taiwan. While saying that Tokyo is “always open” to dialogue with Beijing, Koizumi made the case the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic areas are not separate arenas but indivisible. He cited more than 100,000 North Korean soldiers sent to the battlefields of Ukraine in the service of Russia, “learning a new way of fighting.” “From a Japanese point of view, if there a tension between the US, Europe and NATO, who is happy with this?” he said. “We should think about this.”Takaichi is due to visit Washington in March to meet with Trump, ahead of the US president’s proposed trip to China the following month for a one-on-one with Xi Jinping.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said that Xi “must have been applauding” Trump’s decision yesterday to rescind a landmark scientific determination that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health and welfare. It stands to help extend China’s lead in clean energy as the Trump administration doubles down on fossil fuels.“What Trump did yesterday was make China great again,” Newsom said in Munich. Scrapping the so-called endangerment finding cedes innovation, economic power and influence to China, he said. “It’s jaw dropping.”—With assistance from Jenny Leonard, Eric Martin, Andrea Palasciano, Colum Murphy, Ellen Milligan, Volodymyr Verbianyi, Ania Nussbaum, Michael Nienaber, Ilya Arkhipov, Alex Wickham, Alberto Nardelli and Sam Dagher.Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.