Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to reassure Europe at the Munich Security Conference, but European leaders are skeptical.

Both U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and consumer inflation readings were sources of comfort.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appealed to European leaders in Munich by stressing Christian and cultural bonds that are no longer universal.

It’s the president’s one contribution to the continent, the California governor said.

A fter World War II, peace-loving Sweden began working on a nuclear bomb to stave off a feared Soviet invasion. But in the 1960s, the Scandinavian nation scrapped the program under pressure from the United States, whose nuclear arsenal has shielded Europe for about 80 years.

From Munich to Bratislava and Budapest

The secretary of state was much less caustic in Munich than Vice President JD Vance was a year ago. But European officials said his core message was much the same.

Democratic presidential hopefuls descended on the Munich Security Conference over the weekend as they might normally flood Des Moines, Iowa, or Manchester, New Hampshire. They found a Europe that’s all but ignoring them – and assuming leaders like Donald Trump will define the future.

The Italian leader is trying to stop the trans-Atlantic rift from becoming a divorce, even as voters and European peers sour on the alliance.