WASHINGTON (AP) — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio painted a bleak vision Wednesday of the consequences of America’s “imbalanced relationship” with China, echoing the anti-globalist rhetoric of President-elect Donald Trump as he fights for confirmation as his secretary of state.
While Rubio addressed issues plaguing the Middle East, Latin America and Eastern Europe, he focused his five-hour Senate confirmation hearing on warning that without rapid and substantive policy change, China will be the “greatest threat” to American prosperity in the 21st century . century will remain.
“If we do not change course, we will live in a world where much of what matters to us every day, from our safety to our health, depends on whether the Chinese allow us to do so or not,” Rubio said before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Asked about NATO, the 75-year-old security organization that Trump has repeatedly criticized, Rubio reiterated its value, calling it a “very important alliance.” But Rubio supported Trump’s view that some European allies should contribute more to their collective defense, adding that the US must decide whether to play “a primary defense role” or act as a “backstop” against aggression.
The 53-year-old Republican made the case against China and other U.S. adversaries to his colleagues on the Foreign Relations panel, where he served for 14 years. He received a heated welcome from both sides of the aisle and joked about how “surreal” it was to be on the other side of the podium.
“I hope I can earn your support, whether because you think I would do a good job or because you want to get rid of me,” Rubio joked in his opening statement.
But among all the niceties, Rubio blamed America’s vulnerability to China on the transition to globalism, which he said is “now a weapon used against us.” He said the U.S. must begin putting “our core national interests above all else.”
It’s a remarkable opening salvo from Rubio, who was born in Miami to Cuban immigrants and, if confirmed, would become the first Latino to serve as the country’s top diplomat.
The confirmation hearing begins a modern chapter in the third-term political career of the senator whose relationship with Trump has evolved over the past decade. After trading schoolyard insults at each other during the 2016 presidential campaign, the two men became close allies as Trump campaigned for another term in the White House last year.
Rubio first came to Washington in 2010 as part of the “Tea Party” wave and once advocated giving immigrants who were in the country illegally a path to citizenship. But like other Republicans, Rubio’s views on immigration have shifted toward the tough stance of Trump, who has promised to aggressively crack down on deportations starting when he takes office on Monday.
Unlike many of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, Rubio is expected to be easily confirmed and will receive the support not only of Republicans but also of Democrats, who support him as a “responsible” nominee to represent the United States abroad. Many expect he will be among the first Trump Cabinet members to be approved.
Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz, who sat alongside Rubio on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he had high hopes that the Florida Republican would reject the isolationist approach of other Trump allies.
“I think Marco is a hawk, but he is also an internationalist, and I think the challenge for him will be to maintain the long bipartisan tradition that America is indispensable in world affairs,” the Hawaii lawmaker told The Associated Press . “And there are.” People in Trump world who want us to run away from being the leaders of the free world. And I hope that Marco’s sense of American strength will prevail.”
Rubio’s approach to foreign affairs is based on his years of service on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Intelligence Panel. In his speeches and writings, he warned ever more urgently of the growing military and economic threats to the United States.
If confirmed, Rubio will become the leader of U.S. foreign policy – although his role will certainly remain secondary to Trump, who relishes the global stage and often uses the bully pulpit against America’s allies.
Even before taking office, Trump has instilled fear in foreign capitals by threatening to occupy the Panama Canal and Greenland and suggesting he would pressure Canada to become the country’s 51st state.
When asked about the channel on Wednesday, Rubio said that while he had “not looked at the legal investigations,” he was “forced to suspect that an argument could be made that violated the terms under which it was created.” Channel was handed over, was violated”.
But he added: “Panama is a great partner on many other issues and I hope we can resolve this issue.”
The Biden administration’s decision to revoke Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism within days of taking office is likely to have angered Rubio, who has long supported tough sanctions against the communist-run island.
When asked by Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas whether he thought Cuba should have remained on that list, Rubio replied, “without question.” He also noted that the modern administration would override the Biden administration’s plans to remove Cuba from it to be removed from the list of sponsor states of terrorism.
“Nothing the Biden administration has agreed to in the last 12 or 18 hours binds the next administration starting Monday,” Rubio said.
Secretaries of State have played a key role in shaping the country’s foreign policy since the country’s founding, beginning with First Secretary Thomas Jefferson, who held the highest Cabinet position under President George Washington.
Since then, Jefferson, as well as his 19th-century successors James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren and James Buchanan, have all been elected president.
More recent secretaries of state have been less successful in their political ambitions, including John Kerry, who lost the 2004 presidential election to President George W. Bush before becoming a top diplomat, and Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 election to Trump.
The most successful secretaries of state are known for their closeness to the presidents they serve, notably James Baker under George HW Bush, Condoleezza Rice under George W Bush, and to some extent Clinton under Barack Obama.
Like Clinton, Rubio was once a political rival to the president-elect who nominated her. However, the relationship between Clinton and Obama during the 2008 Democratic primary was not nearly as hostile as that between Trump and Rubio during the 2016 Republican primary, which was marked by name-calling and personal insults.
Trump had a bitter relationship with his first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. Trump fired him from office via a social media post less than two years into his term.
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Associated Press writer Matt Brown contributed to this report.
