Leonid Bershidsky, Columnist

Rex Tillerson Has Little to Offer Europe

His major speech showed a misalignment of U.S. and European interests.

November 29, 2017 at 1:21 PM UTC

Leonid Bershidsky, formerly Bloomberg Opinion’s Europe columnist, is a member of the Bloomberg News Automation Team. He recently published Russian translations of George Orwell’s “1984” and Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.”

Theodore Roosevelt; talked softly and carried a big stick.
Photographer: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

Signs that the modern world is now leaderless abound -- from the resurgence of regional powers in the Middle East to the latest North Korean nuclear test. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's speech Tuesday at the Wilson Center in Washington offers some clues as to why U.S. leadership has declined.

Tillerson, who is about to embark on a European tour, laid out U.S. policy priorities with regard to Europe. These priorities, however, don't align with Europe's own.