Rubio will seek to firm up US relationships with partners and allies unnerved by Trump’s global tariff strategy. Trump’s announcements seemed certain to make that task harder.
The trip has been seen as part of a renewed US focus on the Indo-Pacific and an effort to look beyond conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of the Trump administration’s attention.
“Top topics that he’s going to want to hit, obviously, are to reaffirm our commitment to East Asia, to ASEAN, to the Indo-Pacific, and not just … for its own sake,” a senior State Department official told reporters.
“I think a key message that the secretary likes to deliver is that we’re committed, and we prioritise it because it is in America’s interests, right? It promotes American prosperity and it promotes American security.”
The official said Rubio would be prepared to discuss trade, including reiterating that the need to rebalance US trade relationships is significant and echoing messages from the White House and the US Trade Representative.
ASEAN countries have been nervous about Trump’s tariffs and questioned the willingness of his “America First” administration to fully engage diplomatically and economically with the region.
“There is a hunger to be reassured that the US actually views the Indo-Pacific as the primary theatre of US interests, key to US national security,” said Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/marco-rubio-malaysia-visit-asean-meetings-trump-tariffs-us-5226081
