Rubio heads to a Nato meeting as European angst over Trump reliability, US troops, Iran grows

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel this week to a Nato foreign ministers meeting in Sweden, where US plans to reduce troop levels in Europe coupled with President Donald Trump's often inconsistent stance on the alliance have created concern while the world grapples with the fallout from the Iran war and rising energy prices.

The State Department said Tuesday (May 19) that Rubio would attend the Nato meeting in Helsingborg on Friday, one of the last senior-level Nato gatherings before alliance leaders meet at a summit in Ankara, Turkey, in July.

Rubio will then travel on to India and plans to visit four cities, including Kolkata, Agra, Jaipur and New Delhi, where he will see Indian officials and is expected to meet with his Indian, Australian and Japanese counterparts, the other three members of the so-called Quad grouping of Indo-Pacific democracies.

In Sweden, Rubio will echo previous US demands "for increased defence investment and greater burden sharing in the alliance," the State Department said in a statement.

It added that he would also focus on Arctic issues and meet with Nato's Arctic members "to discuss our shared economic and security interests in the Arctic and our strengthened posture in the High North."

The statement did not mention Greenland by name, but Trump has rankled Europeans with persistent talk about wanting to take over the Danish territory. Trump's special envoy for Greenland, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, visited the island this week.

Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said Monday that he had a respectful and positive meeting with Landry, but that he made it clear that the Greenlandic people insist on self-determination.

"The Greenlandic people are not for sale. Greenlandic self-determination is not something that can be negotiated," Nielsen was quoted by Danish TV 2 as saying after meeting Landry.

For Europeans nervous about Trump, Rubio's presence at transatlantic meetings has often been welcomed because of his less antagonistic nature and calm demeanour.

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He has been dispatched on several such missions this year, including to the Munich Security Conference in February, and more recently to Italy, where he met with Italian officials and the pope after Trump criticised the pontiff for his stances on crime and the Iran war.

Ahead of the Nato foreign ministers meeting, the alliance's top military officer said Tuesday that he doesn't expect any more drawdowns of American troops from Europe — at least not anytime soon — beyond the 5,000 that Trump announced would leave the continent.

The remarks by US Lt Gen Alex Grynkewich follow Trump's surprise announcement of the move early this month. 

The US leader has bickered with allies over the Iran war and called for changes.

The Pentagon later said it would draw down thousands of troops in Europe by cancelling deployments to Poland and Germany as opposed to yanking out forces already stationed there.

Asked Tuesday about Trump's plans regarding troop levels in Poland, Vice President JD Vance said the administration's focus is on promoting "European independence and sovereignty".

He also disputed that the US is reducing troop levels in Poland.

"What we did is that we delayed a troop deployment that was going to go to Poland," Vance told White House reporters. "That's not a reduction. That's just a standard delay in rotation that sometimes happens in these situations."

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell later Tuesday also said it was a "temporary delay" of the deployment of US forces to Poland, which he called a "model US ally".

He said the delay was a result of the US reducing the number of brigade combat teams assigned to Europe from four to three and he indicated the Pentagon still needed to decide which troops to station where.

Trump's announcement blindsided Nato and came despite US promises to coordinate military moves with its allies and avoid creating security gaps.

Trump was notably angry at Germany, after Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the US was being "humiliated" by the Iranian leadership and criticised what he called a lack of US strategy in the war.

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