Marco Rubio assumed office as Secretary of State: “The department’s priority will be the United States”
US Senator from Florida Marco Rubio He was the first of the nominees to the president’s cabinet donald trump to take the oath of office as Secretary of State this Tuesday, where he emphasized that United States foreign policy under Trump will put American needs first.
The US Senate unanimously confirmed Rubioa harsh critic of China and strong defender of Israeljust hours after Trump was sworn into office on Monday. Additional votes on other Trump nominees were expected this week.
“His (Trump’s) main foreign policy promise is that the priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States“, will be to promote the national interest of this country,” Rubio said after being sworn in before the US vice president, JD Vance.
According to Rubio, Trump established that all actions of the State Department must respond to three fundamental questions: whether they make the United States “stronger,” “more secure,” or “more prosperous.”
“If you don’t do one of those three things, we won’t do it.”said.
Rubio described this moment as “of transformation” and highlighted that Trump made it clear in his inaugural speech that one of the main objectives of foreign policy will be “the promotion of peace”.
“Of course, peace through strength, a peace always without abandoning our values, but I think it is extraordinary that it is something that should be said and that it has not been said enough in recent memory,” added the new secretary.
Rubio, a 53-year-old Republican, was a longtime member of the Senate foreign relations and intelligence committees.
Son of immigrants from Cuba, he has also promoted harsh measures against the communist-ruled island and its allies, especially the government of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
During his confirmation hearingwarned that the United States must change course to avoid becoming more dependent on China, and promised a robust foreign policy focused on American interests.
Rubio also said that it should be US policy that the war in Ukraine must end. He said reaching a deal to stop the fighting would involve concessions from both Moscow and kyiv, and suggested Ukraine would have to give up its goal of regaining all the territory Russia has taken from it over the past decade.
Rubio is the first person of Hispanic origin to hold the position of the country’s top diplomat.
Rubio had a few words in Spanish for his parents, who migrated from Cuba to Florida in 1956, during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista.
“The purpose of their life was so that we could live the dreams that were not possible for them. “It is an incredible honor to be the secretary of state of the most powerful and good country in the history of humanity,” he said.
