> rubios silence is triggering anxiety among officials in brussels who suspect that president donald trumps administration is deliberately freezing out the eu as represented by brussels and pan-european diplomatic frameworks in favor of national figures  all part of a divide-and-conquer strategy to weaken the bloc. ... > the risk for europe is that trump will manage to weaken the blocs unity, making brussels more vulnerable to pressure from washington on issues like trade. (while brussels is responsible for negotiating trade deals on behalf of all eu countries, selective pressure on particular countries could chip away at the blocs collective resolve.) ... > trump has threatened nato ally denmark with sanctions unless copenhagen gives in to his demands on greenland, which havent been precisely spelled out. rather than seek a strong, coordinated response from leaders via the eu, prime minister mette frederiksen has asked her colleagues to stand down out of concern that their comments could further inflame the situation, said two eu diplomats. they, like others quoted in the piece, were granted anonymity to speak candidly about the transatlantic rapport. > from what we can see, they [trumps administration] want to deal with us bilaterally, said a third eu diplomat. given the interest to go on the bilateral track, we will need to show unity. ... > the president didnt invite any of the blocs top representatives  european commission president von der leyen, top diplomat kallas or european council president antnio costa  to his inauguration on jan. 20, instead opting to invite italys hard-right prime minister, giorgia meloni.   secretary-state-marco-rubio-trump-g host-eu-meeting/
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