Under President Donald Trump, top US diplomat Marco Rubio has outlined the administration’s top foreign policy priorities, stating that the administration is focused on advancing Washington’s interests internationally.
In a two-hour briefing to reporters on Friday, the US secretary of state reiterated Trump’s hard line against Venezuela and defended cuts to foreign aid programmes.
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Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, also expressed outrage against “mass migration” into the US, echoing Trump’s stance.
Rubio is also the head of the now-disgraced US Agency for International Development (USAID), and he also serves as the White House’s national security adviser.
Five important lessons can be drawn from the state secretary’s extensive media briefing:
Maduro cannot be trusted
Rubio suggested that further talks with Venezuela would be futile because President Nicolas Maduro cannot be trusted to live up to his commitments.
According to Rubio, it’s difficult to consider making one of the deals he’s made in the past because he has never kept any of them.
The top diplomat kept hammering accusations that Maduro has used the Venezuelan government to lead a campaign of narcotics trafficking and “terrorism”.
Trump has made similar allegations, accusing Trump of orchestrating the US’s entry of drug and criminal activity.
He has also depicted Maduro as a cartel leader who is in charge of organizations like Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Those assertions, however, have been contradicted by the US intelligence community, which found no evidence that Maduro controls the gang.
Rubio stated on Friday that the US is working with Western Hemisphere governments to guarantee stability in the Caribbean region. He emphasized that Venezuela is a different place.
“There’s one place that doesn’t cooperate, and it’s the illegitimate regime in Venezuela. They openly cooperate with terrorist and criminal elements, he said, not only do they not cooperate with us, but they also do so without our consent.
“For instance, they invite Iran and Hezbollah to launch operations from their territory.”
Trump’s allies have accused Maduro of forging ties with Hezbollah, but the US has not provided evidence that the Lebanese armed group, which was weakened by last year’s war with Israel, is operating in the South American country.
Rubio’s remarks come as the US continues to amass military and troops in Venezuela, sparking rumors about US plans to forcefully overthrow Maduro.
Trump and his top aides continue to falsely claim that Venezuela’s oil is US, and he has also announced an oil blockade in Caracas.
Rubio was asked on Friday how he would square Trump’s self-image as a peacemaker with the escalating military threats to Venezuela.
Rubio said, “We reserve the right and have the right to use every ounce of national power to advance the country’s interests,” Rubio continued. No one can dispute that, either. Every country in the world reserves the same option. Simply put, some of them lack power, while others do not.
Ukraine: “Not our war”
The ongoing war in Ukraine, which has been raging since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, was also a key topic in Friday’s news conference.
Rubio argued that Washington is trying to determine what Russia and Ukraine can accept in order to reach a peace deal, but he also emphasized that the war is not a top priority.
“It’s not our war,” he said. It’s a war on another continent”, he said.
Rubio argued, however, that the US was the only one who could bring about a peace in Ukraine.
What can we be trying to figure out here is what Russia can live with and what Ukraine can live with. Sort of identify what both sides ‘ positions are, and see if we can sort of drive them towards each other to some agreement”, Rubio said.
“If you were to ask for [prioritization], I would argue that something in our hemisphere is more significant for our national interest than something on another continent,” he said. Ukraine and Russia are not therefore unimportant, they are. We care about it. We are involved in it because of this.
Trump pledged to end Russia’s war in Ukraine within 24 hours of regaining the presidency while running for president in 2024.
He has since had to walk back those remarks, but the Republican leader has maintained an active role in peace negotiations, even hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin for a meeting in Alaska in August.
Trump’s efforts to end world wars have prompted the Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded.
US pressing to bring the first phase of the Gaza truce to an end
Rubio also stressed on Friday that Washington is pushing to complete phase one of the ceasefire in Gaza, so the second stage can begin.
Setting up a Palestinian technocratic committee to govern Gaza, establishing the territory’s “board of peace,” according to Rubio, and putting together an international policing force were the three things that were highlighted.
“We’re going to start working on this very soon,” he said. It’s what we’re focused on right now like a laser”, he said.
No one is disputing that the status quo is desirable or sustainable over the long term, which is why phase one is deemed necessary to be completed in its entirety.
We have a lot of confidence that we will have the funds to fund the reconstruction effort and provide all the humanitarian aid needed to build phases two and three over the long term.
The US is currently hosting talks with officials from Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye to discuss moving to the next stage.
Israel has killed 395 people in Gaza since the Trump-brokered ceasefire in October, with the most of them being two children per day. At least six people were killed and many others were hurt when Israeli forces attacked a wedding on Friday.
Israel has also refused to allow an adequate amount of aid into the territory, and blocked the entry of temporary homes, despite the fact that displaced people’s tents have flooded amid harsh winter weather.
Rubio was questioned about Israel’s violations by Al Jazeera, but the secretary of state didn’t address the question’s premise. He emphasized the ongoing efforts to bring about peace in Gaza.
“This is the hard work of diplomacy and peacemaking. He said that signing a piece of paper is not just a form of agreement, but it is also a form of agreement. And compliance frequently necessitates daily, ongoing monitoring and nurturing, according to the author.
Cooperation with China
Rubio hawked China when he was a senator. He spoke about relations with Beijing on Friday, but he softer tone, which underscores the need for cooperation in the face of bilateral tensions.
“I think I’ve been nice to China”, Rubio said jokingly. He continued, citing “good progress” being made between the US and China.
He told reporters, “We can work together to solve a global challenge that China and the US can address.” “And there’ll be points of tension. We are aware of the importance of balancing these two. Both parties seem to be aware of that.
After an escalating trade war early in Trump’s second term, the US and China reached a one-year deal in November to freeze tariffs and resolve other issues.
US officials have been describing the world’s fiercest adversary as their most pressing foreign policy concern for almost ten years.
Trump has appeared to have given the Americas less priority than China, but in recent months he has turned his attention to the Americas.
Commitment to NATO
Rubio reiterated the US’s commitment to the NATO military alliance on Friday, despite the Trump administration’s criticism of Europe and its leaders for their immigration policies and EU regulations.
He suggested that any Russian military campaign outside of Ukraine would be prevented by NATO’s common defense, as stated in Article 5 of the alliance treaty, which commits each member to attack an alliance ally as an attack against every NATO nation.
“It’s why we remain in NATO”, he said. “We’re in this alliance because of Article 5 of the NATO alliance, and that’s why.”
Rubio said that the US only asks its NATO allies to increase their military spending.
Trump has sought to raise the minimum defence spending for members of the alliance to 5 percent of each country’s gross domestic product (GDP), but some countries, most notably Spain, have pushed for greater flexibility in their military budgets.
Trump’s commitment to the military alliance has also piqued the attention of NATO allies, with some citing contradictory statements he has made in the past regarding the Article Five commitment. Rubio, however, made an effort to dispel those doubts.
