WASHINGTON (AP) — For the 31st time as secretary of state, Marco Rubio went on a trip abroad, flying to Uzbekistan and later India amid rumors that America’s top diplomat is ignoring pressing issues in favor of politically safer visits and meetings.
This tour aims to promote U.S. economic and security ties with Central And South Asia. But this is only tangentially related to the Trump administration’s major current foreign policy dilemmas. Middle East and with the Russia-Ukraine War.
Rubio did not regret his role at once That of President Donald Trump chief diplomat and national security advisor and dismissed suggestions that he is avoiding the tougher questions to tackle the low-hanging fruit of diplomacy, with less risk of failure and political damage.
“This is an important relationship,” Rubio told reporters Saturday before leaving Washington, emphasizing that he had chosen a time when Central Asian leaders could meet. “One of the things that suffers is strategic visits: you always go to a place where there is a crisis or a problem, or you go there because there is a conference, but there are countries that you would like to visit because we want to build our relationships with them.
The State Department has pushed back on any criticism of Rubio’s schedule. It says “Rubio’s responsibility is not to generate public visibility around every challenge; it is to help the president develop and execute a strategy that advances American interests. Some of the most important diplomatic work happens outside the public spotlight.”
In both roles, Rubio must also “consider these challenges as part of a broader strategic vision,” the department said in a lengthy email response to questions from The Associated Press. “The conflicts between Iran, Gaza, and Russia-Ukraine each require particular attention, but they cannot be addressed in isolation from the president’s broader national security goals. The right question is not whether the secretary of state is sufficiently visible on any particular issue.”
Rubio is involved in several things at once
Rubio is involved in behind-the-scenes discussions over Iran, Lebanon, GazaRussia-Ukraine and Chinaalthough he has not been the public face of any of them. The Republican president’s special envoys, such as Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Tom Barrack, have taken the lead on these issues.
The State Department says there is nothing unusual about this and maintains that Rubio “has not backed away from any issue.”
“He is directly involved and serves as a trusted and knowledgeable advisor to the President on what matters most,” the department said. “While he has multiple jobs, he is not White House press secretary and his job is not to be in the press 24/7.”
Rubio focused on Latin Americaparticularly Venezuela And Cubastrengthening ties with a new generation of pro-Trump conservative leaders and strengthening relations with NATO allies worried about the administration’s intentions toward Europe, particularly in the Arctic.
Delegating heavy and particularly time-consuming tasks is nothing new for secretaries of state. When Hillary Clinton was in office during Democratic President Barack Obama’s first term, she appointed former Sen. George Mitchell, Democrat of Maine, to handle the Israel-Palestinian file and veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke to lead the Afghanistan-Pakistan portfolio.
Clinton and Rubio had run for their parties’ respective presidential nominations before becoming secretary of state, and both had and have clear political ambitions for their post-diplomatic careers. Rubio, however, bristles at any discussion of his political intentions. He declined to discuss speculation on the subject or the more sensitive subject of a rivalry with Vice President JD Vance over who might succeed Trump as leader of the “Make America Great Again” movement.
Rubio’s recent trips abroad have avoided the world’s major hotspots, although they have focused on areas in which the administration has shown particular interest. Rubio aides are quick to point out that the secretary of state plays a key role in interagency discussions on all national security issues and has been a major behind-the-scenes player in most, if not all, discussions of the administration’s diplomatic strategy.
Since the beginning of this month and before his current trips to Uzbekistan and India, Rubio has visited Iceland, Greece and Portugal. Before that, he visited Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Rubio’s agenda “is driven by the President’s foreign policy and national security priorities, not by a desire to focus on certain regions at the expense of others,” the State Department said. “Every trip, meeting, and diplomatic engagement must serve a purpose within this broader strategy. Sometimes that means confronting an immediate crisis; other times it means building relationships, advancing economic and security partnerships, or addressing emerging challenges before they become more difficult to manage.”
His travel schedule is criticized
Still, some former high-ranking U.S. diplomats have criticized his travel schedule.
“None (of these places) are where American foreign policy is made,” said Ivo Daalder, the U.S. ambassador to NATO under Obama. “The trip fits a pattern. Twenty months into office, Rubio has largely avoided the capitals, crises and negotiations that define the office.”
In a lengthy critique, Daalder wrote that Rubio, as secretary of state and national security adviser, either has too much on his plate or “has calculated that his future would be better served by staying away from policies that could end badly.” Iran, Gaza, Ukraine and China are all candidates.”
Regarding negotiations on important issues such as the Middle East, Russia, Ukraine and China, “the secretary of state is not present in the room where they are taking place,” he said. “For allies, the message from Reykjavik, Athens and Lisbon is clear. The secretary will come to you when you are not the problem. When you are, call someone else.”
Rubio and his team are offended by such assessments.
Rubio’s No. 2, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, fired back at Daalder, saying it was typical of the foreign policy establishment’s turgid thinking — the kind that he, Rubio and Trump are trying to remake.
“In this view, a U.S. secretary of state is only ‘supposed’ to visit NATO capitals because a successful U.S. foreign policy is what causes his diplomatic counterparts in Paris, Berlin, and Brussels to make a champagne toast to ‘shared values’ while opening their borders, destroying their economies, and apologizing for Western civilization,” Landau wrote, denouncing the idea that Latin America is not worth the secretary’s time.
“This complacent approach has led not only to predictable catastrophic results in the Western Hemisphere, but also in Europe itself, where the combination of moral vanity and strategic inconsistency has also proven toxic,” Landau said. “But of course: keep holding your academic seminars, writing your unread papers, giving yourself meaningless awards and scorning Donald Trump and Marco Rubio.”
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