Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Jared Kushner attended an exclusive international meeting in Switzerland.

Many participants see U.S. policies as threat to stability

MONTREUX, Switzerland — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday joined Jared Kushner at a closed-door meeting of the Bilderberg Group in the Swiss resort of Montreux, with many attendees uneasy about what one protester called the “wrecking ball” that the Trump administration has taken to the postwar international order.

The annual gathering of high-profile participants from business, politics, intelligence and defense saw a visit from America’s top diplomat just as freshly announced tariffs on Mexico rattled world markets and U.S. tensions with Iran raised world concerns.

The four-day meeting, which ends Sunday, comes as critics of President Donald Trump argue his rhetoric and policies are a threat to the globalist postwar stability that was largely born of U.S. leadership. Trump supporters say the U.S.has been taken for granted for too long and its needs must come first.

The event, which aims to foster dialogue between experts from North America and Europe, is closed to the public, and attendees are encouraged to keep quiet about what is said inside. On the agenda this year were topics like Europe, China and Russia, climate change, capitalism and cyberthreats.

The meeting’s theme this year — “A Stable Strategic Order” — was something that Trump critics said the U.S. leader and his advisers should ponder.

“What we have is an administration that is behaving like a unilateralist wrecking ball,” said Ken Oye, an MIT political science professor on sabbatical in Switzerland, who came to protest.

He predicted those at the meeting “are likely to be telling him ‘that you’re not serving American interests or international interests more broadly defined. You’re making a mistake, and here are the reasons why we believe so.’”

With Kushner and Pompeo, both of whom are on major diplomatic missions, at least two Pentagon officials and two members of the National Security Council were at the forum.

Pompeo came to Switzerland from Germany as part of a four-country European tour dominated by tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

Trump has signaled he wants to talk to Iranian leaders. Switzerland, which has represented U.S. interests in Iran, could be an emissary.

Pompeo will meet the Swiss foreign minister on Sunday.

Mike Pompeo