WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Malaysia later this week to attend a meeting of Southeast Asian Nations in his first trip to Asia as America’s top diplomat, the State Department said on Monday.
Rubio will travel July 8-12 and take part in meetings in Kuala Lumpur with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose ministers are gathering there, the State Department said in a statement. He is also scheduled to meet with senior Malaysian government officials.
Rubio will seek to firm up U.S. relationships with partners and allies in the region, who have been unnerved by President Donald Trump’s global tariff strategy.
The trip is part of a renewed U.S. focus on the Indo-Pacific region and represents an effort by the Trump administration to look beyond the conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of its 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 prioritize it because it is in America’s interests, right? It promotes American prosperity and it promotes American security.”
The official added that Rubio would be prepared to discuss trade, which is likely to come up during the trip, including reiterating that the need to rebalance the United States’ trade relationships is significant and echoing any messages from the White House and United States Trade Representative.
Trump says ‘leave Bolsonaro alone’, Lula says no to the ’emperor’
ASEAN countries have been nervous about Trump’s tariffs and have 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 U.S. actually views the Indo-Pacific as the primary theater of U.S. interests, key to U.S. national security,” said Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies.
TRADE PACTS
Trump on Sunday said the U.S. was close to finalizing several trade pacts and would notify other countries by July 9 of higher tariff rates. He said they would not take effect until August 1, a three-week reprieve.
He also sent a message to members of the developing nations’ BRICS group as its leaders met in Brazil, threatening an additional 10% tariff on any BRICS countries aligning themselves with “anti-American” policies.
The BRICS includes ASEAN member Indonesia, as well as China and India.
Trump last week announced he reached a trade agreement with important Southeast Asian partner and ASEAN member Vietnam and could reach one with India, but cast doubt on a possible deal with Japan, Washington’s main Indo-Pacific ally and a major importer and investor in the United States.
Rubio has yet to visit Japan, or neighboring South Korea, the other major U.S. ally in Northeast Asia, since taking office in January, even though Washington sees the Indo-Pacific as its main strategic priority given the perceived threat posed by China.
South Korea’s presidential security adviser Wi Sung-lac headed to Washington on Sunday for trade and defense talks, with Seoul seeking an extension of a freeze on U.S. tariffs.
Wi’s office said he would be in Washington until Tuesday and aimed to meet with Rubio and discuss a possible summit between Trump and President Lee Jae Myung, who took office last month.