BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 14. Western nations must reclaim control over their industries, rebuild manufacturing capacity and secure critical supply chains to remain competitive in the 21st century, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the Munich Security Conference, Trend reports.
Reflecting on the historical foundations of transatlantic cooperation, Rubio argued that recent decades were marked by strategic economic missteps that weakened Western industrial strength.
He criticized what he described as a “dogmatic vision of free and unfettered trade,” saying it allowed some countries to protect their own economies and subsidize domestic industries while undercutting Western manufacturing.
“In this delusion, we embraced a dogmatic vision of free and unfettered trade, even as some nations protected their economies and subsidized their companies to systematically undercut ours, shuttering our plants, resulting in large parts of our societies being deindustrialized, shipping millions of working and middle-class jobs overseas, and handing control of our critical supply chains to both adversaries and rivals,” Rubio said.
He emphasized the need for a renewed industrial agenda focused on advanced technologies and strategic autonomy.
“Together, we can reindustrialize our economies and rebuild our capacity to defend our people,” Rubio stated.
He pointed to commercial space travel, artificial intelligence, industrial automation, flexible manufacturing and secure supply chains for critical minerals as key areas for transatlantic cooperation.
“Together, we can not only take back control of our own industries and supply chains, we can prosper in the areas that will define the 21st century,” he said, calling for the creation of Western supply chains “not vulnerable to extortion from other powers.”
Rubio also underlined the importance of competitiveness in emerging markets, including the economies of the Global South, as part of a broader effort to advance shared economic interests.
He argued that international institutions must be reformed to better serve the interests of sovereign nations, stressing that economic resilience and industrial capacity are central to national security.
“Armies do not fight for abstractions. Armies fight for a people. Armies fight for a nation. Armies fight for a way of life,” Rubio said, adding that the West must defend not only its security but also its economic independence.
Concluding his remarks, Rubio called for a revitalized transatlantic alliance focused on innovation, industrial renewal and strategic strength.
“We do not seek to separate, but to revitalize an old friendship and renew the greatest civilization in human history,” he said.