Marco Rubio, 53, becomes the first member of the new Trump administration to be confirmed to his post. He is to succeed Antony Blinken as head of American diplomacy.
“We are pleased to have worked in a bipartisan manner to ensure that one of our own, Senator Marco Rubio, is able to quickly take over the leadership of the State Department,” said shortly before the vote in session plenary senators Republican Jim Risch, who chairs the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.
China: “the most powerful and dangerous adversary”
Marco Rubio will have to work to execute the diplomacy of President Trump, who, in his inauguration speech on Monday, promised to “retake” control of the Panama Canal, while posing as a “peacemaker”.
During his hearing last week before this same committee, Marco Rubio affirmed that China was “the most powerful and dangerous adversary that the United States has had to face” in its history.
He said he wanted to implement Donald Trump’s slogan – “America first” -, rejecting the central paradigm in the diplomacy of the outgoing Joe Biden administration, namely giving priority to a world order based on international standards.
-Born in Miami, son of Cuban immigrants, Marco Rubio became the first head of American diplomacy fluent in Spanish.
Due to his family history, he spoke out against the communist government in Havana or against other left-leaning Latin American countries, such as Venezuela.
The influential senator, a regular on television, was once considered the rising star of a more moderate Republican Party, and even ran against the real estate mogul during the presidential election in 2016. The two men have since buried the hatchet.
Canada
