As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez prepares to take the spotlight at the Munich Security Conference in Germany later this week, global leaders are likely to be attentive to her every remark.

The 36-year-old New York congresswoman is poised to receive an enthusiastic welcome on what marks her most significant international engagement to date. This comes as many of America’s international partners are grappling with the effects of former President Donald Trump’s tariffs and his isolationist stance.

This appearance will be Ocasio-Cortez’s first opportunity to present her foreign policy perspective on a global platform—a move commonly undertaken by those with presidential aspirations.

The prestigious event will bring together over 60 heads of state and government, alongside nearly 100 foreign and defense ministers. Notable attendees include UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Back in 2018, during her congressional campaign, Ocasio-Cortez experienced a notorious stumble in an interview regarding foreign affairs. When questioned about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on PBS, she candidly admitted with a laugh, “I am not the expert at geopolitics on this issue.”

In recent times, she has been discreetly seeking guidance on international matters from Matt Duss, a seasoned expert who served as Bernie Sanders’ foreign policy advisor for five years.

She is also getting briefings from the Center for International Policy, a Washington think tank established in the wake of the Vietnam War, which promotes a non-interventionist US foreign policy and human rights.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attends the 2021 Met Gala in a ‘Tax the Rich’ dress

Her visit to Munich appears to be a deliberate choice for her debut on the world stage because it will set up a stark contrast to JD Vance, her likeliest Republican opponent in a 2028 race.

Last year, Vance went to Munich and left Europeans with their jaws on the floor as he accused them of endangering Western civilization by censoring free speech, failing to control immigration, and not taking responsibility for their own defense.

The comments by Vance were the first in a series of criticisms of Europe by members of President Donald Trump’s administration that have unsettled Washington’s European allies.

This year, the Trump administration will be represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It remains to be seen whether he or Ocasio-Cortez is the bigger draw.

‘AOC has made no secret of her interest in running on a national ticket, whether it’s for president or vice president,’ one Democratic insider told the Daily Mail.

‘She has strong domestic policy credentials, and strong progressive credentials, but if you’re going to be on a national ticket and be president or vice president, you have to have some knowledge of foreign affairs.

‘And I think she’ll also use it (Munich) to contrast her views with Vance, since he’s the most likely Republican nominee, to set up the contrast early, get people thinking about Vance versus AOC.’

Vice President JD Vance speaks at the Munich Security Conference in 2025

AOC and JD Vance could compete for the White House in 2028

In December, a poll by The Argument/Verasight had Ocasio-Cortez beating Vance in a hypothetical 2028 race by 51 percent to 49 percent, and she was quick to embrace it.

She posted the poll on X and wrote: ‘Bloop!’

She later dismissed the relevance of a poll three years before the election, but added: ‘Let the record show… I would stomp him… I would stomp him!’

Ocasio-Cortez was highly critical of Vance following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota.

‘That is a fundamental difference between Vice President Vance and I,’ she said at the time. ‘I do not believe that the American people should be assassinated in the street.’

In Munich, Ocasio-Cortez is expected to take part in a talk on populism in politics and discuss what America’s global role should be.

She is also expected to hold a question and answer session with students at a university in Berlin.

‘The most important thing she’ll do is contrast her views with Vance and Trump,’  Professor Larry Sabato, Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, told the Daily Mail.

‘There’s so many obvious lines – I won’t be annexing Greenland, Canada isn’t going to be our 51st state… what I would be interested in is how much she dwells on the Middle East because that is a continuing source of divisive controversy in the Democratic Party.’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks during an event, March 20, 2025, in Tempe, Arizona

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani

He said the 2028 Democratic primary is expected to be large.

‘Everybody and his brother and sister will be running for this nomination, a drove of Democrats will run,’ he said.

‘She’s the strongest ally of Bernie Sanders, so it’s very difficult to remake your image after so many years of being viewed as one of the two leaders of the progressive left in the Democratic Party. So I doubt she could win a majority or anything close to it. But it can happen, you don’t need a majority to win.’

This week, in a Democratic congressional primary in New Jersey, Analilia Mejia won with only 29 percent of the vote. Her campaign was boosted by an endorsement from Ocasio-Cortez, another sign of the congresswoman’s increasing influence. 

According to Kalshi, the online prediction market, Ocasio-Cortez is currently second favorite for the Democratic nomination behind California Governor Gavin Newsom. On the site, 44 percent of people believe she will run for president in 2028.

It is notable that Newsom will also be in Germany for the Munich Security Conference. 

‘The worst thing you can be is the favorite for the presidential nomination three years in advance,’ said Sabato. ‘Almost all of them have not gotten the nomination because they have three years to survive attacks from everybody else. They’re the obvious target.’

Gavin Newsom is the current favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez acknowledges the crowd at the end of the ‘NYC is Not for Sale’ rally at the Forest Hills Stadium in Forest Hills last year

The constitutional minimum age to run for president is 35.

Ocasio-Cortez would be 39 on Election Day in 2028, which is three years older than the youngest ever Democratic Party nominee, William Jennings Bryan, known as the ‘Boy Orator,’ in 1896. John F Kennedy and Theodore Roosevelt were in their early 40s when they reached the White House.

‘The one thing you don’t want to be today is too old,’ said Sabato. ‘We’ve had Biden and Trump, and that’s going to be it for people in their late 70s and early 80s for a long, long time.’

‘She would be very popular with the young, but that doesn’t guarantee you anything. It means you get plenty of staffers and door-to-door workers.’

Ocasio-Cortez entered Congress in 2018 as the youngest woman ever elected following a stunning primary victory in New York.

She became a firebrand leader of the progressive ‘Squad’ and a thorn in the side of Nancy Pelosi when she was Speaker.

She has since become one of the most successful fundraisers in the party and, as Bernie Sanders has reached the age of 84, she has emerged as his obvious successor to lead the progressive wing.

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised $24 million on a speaking tour

In 2025, they raised $24 million together on a national ‘Fighting Oligarchy’ speaking tour.

However, there have been efforts to bridge the gap with more right-leaning Democrats.

After Sanders dropped out of the 2020 race she endorsed Joe Biden. Meanwhile, across the party spectrum, her colleagues have been keen to learn from her about how to capitalize on social media.

One possibility in 2028 is that she will instead seek to run for the Senate in New York, which could mean a primary contest against the current Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

However, with other Democrats piling into the race for the presidential nomination, and the prospect of a general election showdown with Vance, she may not be able to resist the lure of the bigger prize.

In Munich, Rubio plans to take a less contentious approach than Vance did last year, according to US officials.

President Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the US delegation at Munich

But he will have a challenge allaying European concerns in the wake of President Trump’s recent comments about taking control of Greenland.

Vance’s speech last year was ‘a shock moment,’ Claudia Major, a senior vice president at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, told reporters this week.

‘It was perceived as the first very clear statement of what the new Trump administration was about – Europeans are not partners any longer.

‘There is a big doubt whether the basis (of trust) is still there and whether we still share the same vision for the trans-Atlantic relationship.’

Sharing a similar view, Munich Security Conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger said: ‘Transatlantic relations are currently in a significant crisis of confidence and credibility.’ 

Whatever she says, Ocasio-Cortez will likely try to cast herself and her ‘vision’ as the alternative.