Standing alongside the French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, Blinken said the U.S. was “stronger” and “more effective” when it works with allies rather than “saying and doing things that alienate them,” he added.
But with Blinken leaving office in matter of days, it’s unlikely his comments will help reassure Europeans, especially as the incoming administration has promised a clean break from current President Joe Biden’s foreign policy.
Earlier in the day, Barrot had warned that it was “out of the question” that the European Union would let other countries “attack its sovereign borders.” When speaking next to Blinken, Barrot dialed down the rhetoric, saying that he did not believe the U.S. was really planning to invade the world’s largest island.
When asked by reporters about tech billionaire Elon Musk controversially wading into European politics, Blinken refused to comment.
Musk has recently attacked British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and publicly backed the far-right Alternative for Germany party ahead of a snap election next month.
Blinken said that Musk and other “private citizens in [the U.S.] can say what they want or believe and everyone else can draw their own conclusions.”
Musk, who owns SpaceX, Tesla and X, has been a key adviser to the president-elect. Trump tapped Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a cost-cutting outside consultancy called the Department of Government Efficiency.
