Silence of the NATO lambs: NATO Secretary General continues to see the United States as a trustworthy ally, but dismisses Greenland, tariffs and other concerns

A review of the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers, Brussels, 3-4 April 2025

10 April 2025

Meetings of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs generally take place twice a year to discuss current security issues. This first meeting of foreign ministers in 2025 sought to lay the groundwork ahead of the next NATO Summit in the Hague on 24-25 June 2025. The only other NATO gatherings before then are an informal foreign ministers' meeting in Turkey in mid-May and a defence ministers’ session in early June. The meeting took place amid high anxiety over the Trump administration’s approach to Europe, including the war in Ukraine, relations with Russia and a growing trade war with the continent and beyond.

Washington’s unprovoked verbal attacks on NATO allies Canada and Denmark are additional points of tension. Trump says he wants to claim Canada as a 51st state, and appears determined to acquire the island of Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark. President Trump has declined to rule out taking Greenland by force.

The new US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was attending his first NATO meeting, and like the US Defence Secretary in February, hammered home the message that European member states and Canada need to step up on military spending and burden sharing. The focus of the agenda was a series of consultations among foreign ministers and their counterparts from some of the most important partner countries. Key takeaways were as follows:

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave “a very clear message” about the US commitment to NATO, with an equally clear expectation that Europe and Canada must take more responsibility for shared security by further ramping up military spending
As was the case for ministerial meetings and NATO summits during the first Trump presidency, there were few, if any, concrete outcomes, and the focus was on a series of closed consultations.
The NATO Secretary General flattered both Rubio and Trump, publicly backing the United States as a trustworthy ally. However, he refused to give an opinion on a range of pressing concerns, including the US-led trade war, repression in Turkey, threats to Greenland, war crimes in Gaza and NATO member states withdrawing from the landmine treaty.
The passive role of the NATO Secretary General needs to be rethought in the face of US aggression towards other member states.