US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cancelled his Europe trip at the last minute on Tuesday after Luxembourg’s foreign minister and top European Union officials declined to meet him, European diplomats and other people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Pompeo had sought to meet Jean Asselborn in Luxembourg before meeting EU leaders and the bloc’s top diplomat in Brussels, three people close to the planning told Reuters.
He had originally planned to go to Luxembourg, but that leg of the trip was scrapped, one diplomatic source said, after officials there showed reluctance to grant him appointments. The Brussels leg was still on until the last minute.
In Brussels, Pompeo was due to have a private dinner with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, before meeting Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmes. His final visit schedule in Brussels was not going to involve any meetings with the EU or any public events at NATO.
A third diplomatic source told Reuters that the allies were “embarrassed” by Pompeo after the violence in Capitol Hill last Wednesday.
Luxembourg’s foreign ministry confirmed the previously planned stop there was cancelled, but declined to give further details. The EU declined to comment.
The US State Department, in a statement, attributed the cancellation to transition work before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20 and declined further comment on European officials’ rejection of meetings with Pompeo.