Secretary of State Marco Rubio Remarks to the Traveling Press

SECRETARY RUBIO:  You guys don’t look nearly as excited to see me as the foreign press briefing.  (Laughter.)  I’m going to spend more time with them.  Which way am I facing, this way?  It’s been – this has been really good.  I mean, we’ve had really great interactions, very positive – everyone’s been very positive and enthusiastic.  Obviously, the issue of trade comes up.  But as I remind everybody, there’s no country in the world that I can meet with right now where the issue of trade and tariffs wouldn’t come up, because this is a global action.

So our negotiators, the baseline will take effect the 1st of August, but obviously, as the President’s made clear, there are opportunities for adjustments based on arrangements that could be made between now and then.  But beyond that, it’s been very positive; all of our engagements here have been very positive.  We’ve been very warmly received, and everyone’s excited we’re here and excited about the opportunities to work together on a number of things.  We’ll have even a few more announcements to make about some elevation of strategic partnerships.  Obviously the Memorandum of Understanding we signed yesterday was very positive with the host country.  They did a great job hosting this, by the way.  This has been a great forum to be able to interact with a lot of different countries, and hopefully to take back some potential decisions that can be made that further strengthen our commitment to this part of the world.

As I pointed out today on two occasions during our interventions and opportunity to speak, the United States is a Pacific nation – not just the mainland of the United States that faces the Pacific, but we have American citizens, and one of our 50 states.  We have – the United States is the number one source of foreign direct investment in Southeast Asia.  We’re not abandoning any of that nor are we abandoning these strong bilateral ties that we have with many of these countries, some of which go back decades and decades.  In fact, today is the 30th anniversary of U.S. diplomatic relations with Vietnam, and think about how far that relationship has come.  We had a very positive meeting today, and with the Vietnamese, as an example, and we’re looking forward to building on – continue to build on that relationship, which is both deeply symbolic given how far our two countries have come, but also we have very exciting opportunities we’re going to be able to work together with them on, and we’re excited to be able to do that. 

So it’s been a great trip, it’s been a great visit.  It’s exceeded all of our expectations. 

QUESTION:  How was —

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, how does —

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, you met the Chinese – your Chinese counterpart earlier today.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  I did.

QUESTION:  The President said just a couple of days ago that he enjoys good relations with China and the Chinese president.  At your meeting, is that the sense you get – that you have good relations with China?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  It was a very constructive meeting.  Obviously, look, we’re two big, powerful countries, and there are always going to be issues that we disagree on.  I think there are some areas of potential cooperation.  I thought it was a very constructive, positive meeting, and a lot of work to do.  He’s absolutely right that the President has a very good relationship with President Xi.  It tracks back to his first term.  And obviously there are some issues we’re going to have to work through, and that’s to be expected with countries of our size and scope and influence in the world – two global powers such as the United States and China.  But I thought it was a very constructive and positive meeting and gave us some things we can work on together.

QUESTION:  Do you think they’re going to —

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, what was your message to the foreign minister in the meeting?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Which foreign minister?   I’ve been meeting the foreign minister —

QUESTION:  Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Oh.  Well, look, it’s very constructive.  I think as I said, the President has a very positive working relationship with President Xi, and obviously the relationship I have with the foreign minister should reflect that.  So we acknowledged there are some issues that are going to be – we have to work through, not just beyond trade but others, but I thought it was a very constructive and positive meeting and gave us a lot to work on.  So that was our message, was the opportunity here to achieve some strategic stability and identify areas where we can cooperate together on and build better communications and working trust.

QUESTION:  What are the odds of a meeting —

QUESTION:  What are some areas of cooperation?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  What? 

QUESTION:  What are some of those areas of cooperation?  The administration hasn’t spelled those out yet, so —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, we’re going to work through those.  We’re not – we don’t – I don’t have any announcement for you right now.  But it was a very constructive meeting.  I think we left it feeling as though there are some areas we’re going to be able to work together on.  And obviously, as we work through those and we do that in conjunction with the Chinese side, we’ll make public announcements.  The last interaction of our trade representatives was quite positive, and we can build on that and other areas of potential cooperation.

Yeah.

QUESTION:  What are the odds for a meeting or the outlook for a meeting?  We know President Trump has expressed interest in a meeting with President Xi this year, and President Xi has reciprocated with an invitation to China for the President and First Lady.  What’s the outlook or what are the odds of a meeting happening this year after this – after your initial —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah, no, the odds are high.  I think both sides want to see it happen.  Obviously we have to build the right atmosphere and the right deliverables so that a visit isn’t just a visit, but it actually has some takeaways from it that are concrete.  But there’s a strong desire on both sides to do it.  The President wants to do it.  The Chinese side wants to see it happen.  President Xi has said that publicly.  So I think the odds are high.  I don’t have a date for  you, but I think it’s coming.  It’ll happen.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, what do you say to those who make the argument that the U.S. tariffs or the threat of those tariffs in the region actually creates an opening for China to be seen as the stable economic partner here?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  I don’t agree with that assessment.  I mean, look, at the end of the day the United States has built these tremendous trade imbalances over the last 30 or 40 years.  It’s unfair to America and American workers and American – in addition to threaten our industrial capacity.  Trade needed to be revisited.  The President campaigned on that, and that’s what he’s doing, and he’s resetting it on a global scale. 

At the end of the day, look, I think countries are going to trade with multiple countries.  We don’t view this as an opening for anyone.  We don’t view it that way.  We view it as an opportunity to reset global trade in a way that’s fair for Americans after two or three decades of unfairness.  If you look at some of these trade deficits, they’re massive.  They’re massive.  That has to be addressed, and that’s not sustainable at its current – the current direction that it had gone.  This should have been done a long time ago.  President Trump’s finally done it.  And I think countries understand that.

This was different.  If this was us targeting 10 countries or five countries, then I would understand why countries would be upset.  But the truth of the matter is we’re resetting tariff levels with virtually every country in the world.  And so I understand – if you had a deal where you were running these huge trade deficits with the United States and exporting a lot to the U.S. and built your economy around exports, but had very little import or very little economic activity coming in from the United States, I understand why you don’t want that to change.  But I think most mature leaders – and everybody here is a mature leader – understands that that’s not a sustainable dynamic.  It was one that had to be changed, and that’s what the President’s doing.  So we’re going to be okay. 

QUESTION:  And in discussing trade with these counterparts in the region, did you open the aperture at all and also tell them that this is an opportunity for them to bring into the conversation or the negotiation other elements of the U.S. relationship, whether it be security elements, broader than trade?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, I think that we want to expand on all the other issues, but I think we need to bifurcate the two.  Primarily the trade conversations have been about trade, and that’s how the President’s treated it.  Now, that doesn’t mean that there – the bulk of our meetings here were not about trade.  I’m not the trade negotiator for the United States.  We certainly appreciate the role that trade plays in our bilateral relationships with individual countries.  But the bulk of our talks here have been about all the other things that we cooperate on, whether it’s civil nuclear cooperation, whether it’s respecting international law when it comes to air rights and maritime rights and freedom of navigation and things of this nature, and other opportunities to work together.

So what’s been the bulk of our conversations and it’s been very positively received. 

QUESTION:  To follow up on that, Mr. Secretary, Japan’s prime minister said his country needs to wean itself from U.S. dependence in key areas such as security, as Tokyo faces the prospect of tariffs.  Did you discuss that in your meeting with the Japanese?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  No, we haven’t.  But at the end of the day, look, I don’t think that that’s a negative comment per se.  We obviously have very strong commitments and an alliance with Japan.  We continue to cooperate very closely with them.  As I speak to you now, there are active exercises going on between the United States and Japan.  So our relationship with them will continue to exist.  The idea that somehow Japan would be able to develop domestic – their own capabilities for mutual self-defense is not – not only is not something that we find offensive, it’s something we’d be supportive of, obviously within the confines of their constitutional system.  But they have some limitations on what they can do.  But the idea that Japan’s military would become more capable is not something we would be offended by; it’s something we would actually be encouraged by.

QUESTION:  So can you talk – you talked about points of possible cooperation with the Chinese.  But on the points, which are well known, of contention, did you get a sense that there was a willingness — 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah.

QUESTION:  — of the Chinese to move, or are they just —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, I wouldn’t – look, today’s meeting with our Chinese counterparts was not a negotiation on any of these matters.  It is the first time that I met my counterpart in person, who, by the way, happens to also be the national security advisor, so he’s also – he’s not the archivist, though.  (Laughter.)  But I suggested that perhaps he ask for that title and that way we’d be equal.  But —

QUESTION:  That’s a hell of a – that’s a lot bigger job than archivist in the U.S.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, there they have 5,000 years of archives too, so – (laughter) – but I would say that it was a very positive relation, a very positive interaction, and constructive is the most important part.  At the end of the day, no matter what, the United States and China have to have relations.  We have to have communication.  We have to be able to interact with one another.  And it’s just impossible for the foreign ministers of our respective countries to not engage in conversation. 

So I’m glad we had that meeting today.  There’s a lot of work to be done.  No one’s saying it’s easy, but we do have some opportunities on some things we might be able to work on to begin to build some momentum in our relationship.  I thought it was a very good meeting.  I really felt encouraged by it.  But look, there’s work to be done. 

QUESTION:  Secretary, if I can ask a follow-up question.  You mentioned that you see high odds of a meeting between the presidents of the U.S. and China.  There is a big Chinese military parade happening; it’s scheduled for September 3rd.  Did the Chinese foreign minister extend an invitation to that?  Was that discussed as a potential opportunity?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  No, we didn’t discuss any specific date in mind in that regard.  But the reason why I tell you there’s a high probability they’re going to meet is that they both want to meet, and my – I don’t know President Xi but I know President Trump, and I can tell you that he’s committed to having that meeting happen.  So the reason why I think there’s high odds of it happening is they both want it to happen. 

So I’m sure we’ll work on a date and find a mutually acceptable date for both sides, and I’m pretty confident.  We want it to be a good meeting and we’re going to work hard between now and whatever date that is to make sure that when that visit does happen, it’s as productive as possible. 

QUESTION:  We saw you today seek out the Russian foreign minister in the larger gathering.  Why did you go up and talk to him?  What did you guys discuss?  Did you give him a response from President Trump to the conversation you had yesterday? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  No, it was just a follow-up on an unrelated item to our conversation yesterday, and I’ll leave it at that. 

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, many Japanese people are concerning about the U.S. policy, which is demanding drastically increased defense spending.  Do you have something to comment?  How do you think of this? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, I wouldn’t characterize it as a demand.  I mean, we’ve encouraged them to invest in certain capabilities.  It’s less to do with the amount of money and more to do about certain things they can do.  At the end of the day we are in an agreement with Japan on collective self-defense, on the ability to come to each other’s aid in a time of conflict or in a time of danger, and there are certain capacities that we think they have high capability.  We understand there are dynamics that – constitutional and legal that limit their ability to invest in certain things versus other things, and – but we have a very close relationship with Japan, very close. 

You may not know this – it’s an inside joke that’s now an outside joke, and I’ll share it with you, and that is that I have – I believe I have met with the foreign minister of Japan more than any other foreign minister on the planet in my five and a half months in office.  I think we’re up to, like, nine or 10 meetings.  We interact, and how we joke with each other is that we see each other more than we see our respective spouses.  And so it’s a very close relationship, a very historic relationship, and one that’s going to continue.

So again, I think anyone who’s looking for, like, drama or division there is – shouldn’t be doing it because the truth of the matter is our relationship with Japan is very solid, and obviously we’re both open, democratic governments.  So when there are some differences of opinion, it’s going to be public, not private – but I don’t see that as a negative.  We have a very strong and very good relationship with Japan, and that’s not going to change. 

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary – Mr. Secretary, in your conversation with Foreign Minister Wang, did the subject of Taiwan come up too, and in particular the recent military drills being held by the Taiwanese? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  No issue about drills.  I think the Chinese position on Taiwan has been expressed.  I don’t think it’s a mystery to anyone in terms of where they stand on it.  And our position has also been expressed pretty openly.  So it was not – as I said, our meeting today was not a negotiation or a back-and-forth on items.  It was more about establishing a constructive baseline where we can continue to talk on multiple fronts, including trade but beyond trade.

QUESTION:  Secretary, if I can ask a question about your meeting with Vietnam, a country with one of the largest trade surpluses with the U.S.  We’ve heard that there was maybe some misunderstanding on – about the agreement announced last week for a 20 percent tariff, that the Vietnamese weren’t confident that that was fully agreed to, that perhaps they were looking for a 10 to 15 percent tariff.  Was that an issue that they raised, trying to lower their tariff level?  Was that – the tariff – an issue that they raised during the bilateral meeting today?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, the issue of trade was raised.  We don’t – I’m not – I’m not the negotiator on trade —

QUESTION:  Sure.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  — and neither is the foreign minister.  And so we weren’t here to negotiate a trade deal.  And I’ll refer you to our trade negotiators as far as the status of that.  Clearly, Vietnam feels that if they enter into an agreement with the United States, they want to have a tariff rate that’s at least as good as if not better than other countries that don’t have a trade agreement with us.  But I’ll leave – you’ll have to – I have to refer you to our negotiators because I just don’t know what the status of those negotiations are at this point.

QUESTION:  But just to – on that, the President did announce that there was an agreement reached with Vietnam, and yet Vietnam is saying that they never reached that agreement.  So they must have raised this issue with you today. 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  No.  I mean, that – neither that issue – it just wasn’t a trade meeting.  We didn’t – I’m not saying it’s not a relevant issue, it’s just not what the purpose of our meeting was about today.  We talked about a lot of other issues.  But perhaps the reason why it wasn’t raised is because I’m not the trade negotiator and these are not trade meetings. 

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, can I follow up on your meeting with Lavrov yesterday?  Have you had a chance to speak to the President about the ideas that were discussed in that meeting?  And what did you discuss with the foreign minister this morning? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Which one?  Lavrov?

QUESTION:  Lavrov, when you spoke to him on —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  I went to talk to him about another topic.  It’s not big or mysterious, it’s just another topic.  So it’s – and I’m not going to – we’ll leave it at that.  And as far as – I did speak to the President last night, and – but I have no news to report to you on it right now.  But like I said, I thought yesterday’s meeting – I’m not – I don’t want to oversell it, okay, but it was constructive and there was some things that perhaps we can build on.  Maybe not.  I don’t know.  We’ll find out.  But there are some things that we will potentially explore, and I relayed that to the President and our team here last night.

QUESTION:  The President says that there’s going to be an announcement coming relevant or relating to Russia on Monday. 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Mm-hmm.

QUESTION:  Can you tell us a little bit about what his thinking is, based on your conversation last night, where things currently stand?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  No.  No.  (Laughter.)  That’s what Monday will be about. 

QUESTION:  Can I follow up on —

QUESTION:  What about he did say that there’s a new agreement between the U.S. and NATO to get new U.S. weaponry through NATO to Ukraine, and NATO is going to fully pay for that, according to the President?  Can you explain to us exactly, number one, how that’s going to work and when those weapons, as part of this agreement, will actually get to Ukraine? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, I think what you’re referring to is something that Ukraine has already offered, and so has Europe, and that is to buy weapons from the United States and then provide them to Ukraine.  At the end of the day, some of the systems that Ukraine requires are systems that Europe doesn’t make.  They would have to purchase them from the United States. 

In addition to that, I would point to the fact that a number of the defensive weapons that Ukraine seeks are in – our Allies in NATO have them.  So as an example, Germany, I believe, has 13 or 14 Patriot batteries.  Other countries do as well, some others, and some have placed orders for that.  And so we continue to encourage our NATO Allies to provide those weapons, those systems, those defensive systems that Ukraine seeks – that they should provide those weapons to Ukraine since they have them in their stocks, and then we can enter into financial agreements with us where they can purchase the replacements. 

QUESTION:  So these are existing systems?  This is nothing new? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  It can be both.  I mean, but at the end of the day, I mean, it’s a lot faster to move something, for example, from Germany to Ukraine than it is to order it from a factory and get it there.  So there are a couple different ways to approach it, but the key is that there are existing capacities within existing U.S. systems within Europe right now that can be transferred to Ukraine, and then the Europeans could purchase the replacements from the United States.  That’s one aspect of what I think the President was referring to yesterday. 

QUESTION:  Just to follow up on the Taiwan issue —

QUESTION:  And that’s why you gave —

QUESTION:  — did Foreign Minister Wang warn you against welcoming President Lai at – through – in a transit visa through the U.S.?  Did he – transit visit through the U.S., did he mention anything about that?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  No, there was not – this was not a warning type meeting. 

QUESTION:  All right.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  I mean, obviously we understand their viewpoints on Taiwan.  They’re well stated.  They’ve been stated for many years.  And – but this was not a meeting where any – each – either side warned each other about anything.  This was very constructive and productive, and I hope that that’s how they reflect it as well, because I thought it was a very positive meeting. 

QUESTION:  Any surprises over the last two days? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Surprises? 

QUESTION:  Yeah. 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  No, I don’t think so.  We were very warmly received.  I tell you, I mean, the reception’s been great.

QUESTION:  And that was a surprise?  (Laughter.)

SECRETARY RUBIO:  No, I’m just saying that it was a very friendly environment, and I think the reiteration to the point we made, and that is, look, I read these things about how the U.S. is not focused on the Indo-Pacific.  But it’s funny – everywhere I travel in the world, the headline is:  The U.S. is not paying enough attention, whether it’s the Western Hemisphere or NATO or even in the Middle East.  I think sometimes there’s a media dynamic that covers certain parts of the world more than others, but the relationships we have here have existed for a long time – a long time.  When you talk about 6,000 American companies that are directly invested in the economies of Southeast Asia, we’re not walking away from that.  We’re not walking away from that; we’re not walking away from our defense ties that we have in the region; we’re not walking away from the strong economic ties we have in the region.  On the contrary, we want to build on it. 

Just yesterday we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Malaysia on civil nuclear cooperation.  The – I believe as early – either last night or early this morning, our arrangement with – on another civil nuclear program with Thailand came into effect.  So we have a lot of positive things going on and we’re going to continue to build on those.  We’re excited about them and we’re not going to walk away from them.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, while you were in Malaysia, the Trump Administration announced – yeah – a new nomination for – to be ambassador of Malaysia.  Nick Adams, he’s sort of well known on X as a sort of social media personality and does lots of other things.  I was wondering what you could say about this nomination, why Mr. Adams was the right person for this pretty important position in the Indo-Pacific. 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah, the President makes those nominations.  I support the nomination.  He went through our process of the Presidential Personnel Office, and we look forward to the Senate confirming him so he can get here and be a part of our team. 

QUESTION:  Can I ask a step-back question on trade strategy?  You’ve talked many times now about how decades of trade policy have led to the deindustrialization of the U.S.  And so obviously you and other aides are trying to bring manufacturing or other industrial processes back to the U.S., but you haven’t really given us a vision of what exactly that entails.  I mean, what kinds of jobs are supposed to be coming back to the U.S.?  Howard Lutnick talked about people screwing in tiny things into iPhones, which people mocked after he said that line.  But so what about you?  Like, what vision of industrialization do you see that’s —  

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, there’s certain capacities countries have to be able to have.  For example – I’m just using these as examples – the ability to build a ship.  Right now we go around the world and people say, well, we bought 200 Boeing jets.  Well, Boeing has to be able to make them.  And frankly, we have huge backlogs on that.  So you talk about pharmaceuticals as an example.  Talk about national security – we’ve lost our ability to make pharmaceuticals in the United States and become heavily dependent on the foreign supply chain of the active ingredients that are necessary for pharmaceuticals. 

So I could go on and on, but, I mean, the capability of making things has a national security component to it, not just a jobs component to it.  They’re both important.  So I would look to those as examples of things that the U.S., because of certain decisions that were made by previous policymakers, we’ve seen some of these core industrial capabilities that are necessary not just for economic stability but for national security, leave the United States. 

I would also argue that in addition to our domestic manufacturing capability, I think we and others should be deeply concerned about certain supply chain vulnerabilities and overreliance on one part of the world versus anywhere else.  I don’t think it’s healthy for the United States or for the global economy to be so heavily dependent, as an example, on China or any other country for that matter, where all of the industrial or manufacturing capacity or supplies in the supply chain of a key element is all derived in one place.  So I’m sure you’ve seen the announcement yesterday where the Department of Defense has entered – has taken an equity stake in a company that will be able to process rare earths.  One thing is to have access to raw material; the other thing is to be able to process that raw material into something that’s usable for everything from high technology to anything that has a motor in it.

So I think we at a minimum have to diversify supply chains and secure them.  Some of that will be domestic; others will be in allied nation-states.  But these are the core components of the kinds of things we need to be focused on.  And the – it’s not just the deindustrialization of America.  It’s the loss of these key components and the concentration of those in one or two countries around the world that leave not just us but many countries vulnerable.  That’s just not a sustainable or acceptable situation to find ourselves in.

STAFF:  Thank you, everybody.  Thank you.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  All right, guys. 

STAFF:  Thank you.  

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Thank you.

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