WASHINGTON — The Trump administration would begin formal international engagements this week when Marco Rubio — expected to be confirmed soon as secretary of state — meets with the foreign ministers of India, Japan and Australia, U.S. officials say.
The so-called Quad grouping is a main component of the U.S. strategy to blunt increasing Chinese influence and aggression in the Indo-Pacific, an initiative that Trump had championed during his first term in office but was elevated to the leaders’ level by outgoing President Joe Biden.
Rubio is expected to be confirmed by the Senate to the post of America’s top diplomat on Monday, just hours after President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in for his second term.
Rubio’s meetings, together and separately, on Tuesday with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi, will be his first as secretary of state, the current and incoming officials said. The three ministers will all be attending Trump’s inauguration.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Rubio has not yet been confirmed as secretary of state.
Biden and his outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken have touted their work to rebuild ties with allies abroad after taking over from Trump in 2021. Trump has been skeptical of alliances, including NATO and defense partnerships in the Asia-Pacific.
“When we came in, we inherited partnerships and alliances that were seriously frayed,” Blinken told The Associated Press on Friday.
The leaders of the Quad countries met with Biden near the U.S. president’s hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, in September. They agreed to expand the partnership among the four nations’ coast guards to improve interoperability and capabilities, with Indian, Japanese and Australian personnel sailing on U.S. ships in the region.
All the countries are worried about China’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific, and the U.S.-China rivalry is set to intensify after Trump takes office. Beijing has sent Vice President Han Zheng to Trump’s inauguration after the U.S. president-elect invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping, but tariffs imposed on Chinese products in Trump’s first term were a hallmark of his trade policy, and he has signaled that he will increase and expand them in his second term.
Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke by phone Friday on trade fentanyl and TikTok. Trump said on social media that they agreed to “do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe!”
Meanwhile, several of Trump’s nominees for key Cabinet positions are known China hawks, including Rubio. Rubio called China “the most potent, dangerous and near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted” during his confirmation hearing Wednesday.