NUNICH (Dispatches) – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has traded barbs with European leaders over diminishing Western influence, rejecting as "grossly over-exaggerated” their claims that Washington had retreated from the global stage.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Pompeo sought to assuage European anxiety over the transatlantic bond under an unpredictable President Donald Trump, saying: "The West is winning and we’re winning together.”
But he was immediately contradicted by French President Emmanuel Macron, who warned of "a weakening of the West”.
The annual gathering of world leaders, generals and diplomats to discuss security challenges has been dominated by fears over the West’s diminishing role in the face of a more assertive China and Russia.
In his opening speech a day earlier, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier suggested that the United States rejected "even the idea of an international community” and was acting "at the expense of neighbors and partners”.
"Those statements don’t reflect reality,” Pompeo retorted.
"I’m happy to report that the death of the transatlantic alliance is grossly over-exaggerated,” he added, paraphrasing a famous Mark Twain quote.