Donald Trump chose U.S. Senator Marco Rubio to be his <a href="https://www.world-today-news.com/china-pressures-asean-ahead-of-important-south-china-sea-negotiations/" title="China Pressures ASEAN Ahead of Important South China Sea Negotiations”>Secretary of State, the New York Times and other media outlets reported Monday, putting the Florida-born politician on track to be the first Latino to serve as top diplomat. of the United States, once the Republican president-elect takes office in January.
Rubio was easily the toughest choice on Trump’s list for secretary of state, and in the past he has advocated for a forceful foreign policy toward America’s geopolitical enemies such as China, Iran and Cuba.
In recent years he has softened some of his stances to align more closely with Trump’s views. The president-elect accuses previous United States leaders of leading the country into costly and useless wars and has advocated a more restrained foreign policy.
The new administration will face a more volatile and dangerous world than it was when Trump took office in 2017, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and China aligning itself more closely with US enemies Russia and Iran.
The Ukraine crisis will be high on Rubio’s agenda.
Rubio, 53, has said in recent interviews that Ukraine needs to seek a negotiated settlement with Russia instead of focusing on taking back all the territory Russia has taken over the past decade. He was also one of 15 Republican senators who voted against a $95 billion military aid package for Ukraine, approved in April.
“I’m not on Russia’s side, but unfortunately the reality is that the war in Ukraine is going to end with a negotiated settlement,” Rubio told NBC in September.
Rubio’s election has importance both nationally and internationally.
Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election, thanks in part to the large number of Latinos, who had voted overwhelmingly Democratic in previous election cycles but have become an increasingly diverse demographic. in a political sense, with more and more Latinos voting Republican.
By tapping Rubio for a key political role, Trump can help cement gains among Latinos and make clear that they have a place at the highest levels of his administration.
Rubio was one of Trump’s final three vice presidential contenders. The president-elect ultimately opted for Ohio Senator JD Vance, a hard-right figure known for his isolationist foreign policy positions.
A tough politician against China and Cuba
Some of Trump’s supporters will be skeptical of his decision to turn to Rubio, who until recently held powerful foreign policy stances that contradict Trump’s.
During Trump’s 2017-2021 term, for example, Rubio co-sponsored legislation that would make it more difficult for Trump to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by requiring two-thirds of the Senate to ratify the exit.
Trump has spent years attacking NATO member countries that do not meet agreed-upon military spending targets and warned during the campaign that he would not only refuse to defend nations that are “delinquent” in financing, but would also encourage Russia “to do whatever they want” with them.
Rubio is one of the main “hawks” against China in the Senate.
Most notably, he asked the Treasury Department in 2019 to launch a national security review of the popular Chinese social media app TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly, prompting an investigation and a problematic divestment order.
As the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, he has also kept up pressure on Joe Biden’s administration, demanding that it block all sales to Huawei earlier this year after the sanctioned Chinese tech company launched a new laptop. Powered by an Intel AI processor chip.
Rubio, whose grandfather fled Cuba in 1962, is also openly opposed to normalizing relations with the Cuban government, a position shared by Trump.
The head of the House subcommittee that oversees Latin American affairs, he is also a frequent and fierce critic of Nicolás Maduro’s government in Venezuela.
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