US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will attend a NATO meeting next week in Brussels in a show of American support for the alliance, the State Department said Friday.
“The meetings in Brussels reaffirm the United States’ commitment to our Allies and European partners on our shared agenda,” department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
Blinken’s March 22-25 trip is yet another illustration of a foreign policy reset under President Joe Biden that stresses diplomacy and backing for long-standing relationships after four years of “America first” isolationism in which Donald Trump tended to treat other countries more as rivals than allies.
Blinken will attend a NATO ministerial meeting for talks on concerns over China and Russia, as well as climate change, cyber security, combatting terrorism, energy security, and other “common challenges,” Price said.
America’s top diplomat will also confer with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and his EU counterpart Josep Borrell to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic recovery, climate change, and how to strengthen democracy, Price said.