CHINA, CUBA HAWK
A few of Trump’s supporters shall be sceptical of his choice to faucet Rubio, who till not too long ago held muscular international coverage positions that contradict these of Trump.
Throughout Trump’s 2017 to 2021 time period, as an example, Rubio co-sponsored laws that might make it tougher for Trump to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Group, by requiring two-thirds of the Senate to ratify withdrawal.
Trump has railed for years in opposition to NATO member nations that failed to fulfill agreed army spending targets and warned through the marketing campaign that he wouldn’t solely refuse to defend nations “delinquent” on funding however would additionally encourage Russia “to do regardless of the hell they need” to them.
Rubio is a high China hawk within the Senate.
Most notably, he known as on the Treasury Division in 2019 to launch a nationwide safety evaluate of standard Chinese language social media app TikTok’s acquisition of Musical.ly, prompting an investigation and troubled divestment order.
As the highest Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, he has additionally stored up the warmth on the Biden administration, demanding it block all gross sales to Huawei earlier this 12 months after the sanctioned Chinese language tech firm launched a brand new laptop computer powered by an Intel AI processor chip.
Rubio, whose grandfather fled Cuba in 1962, can be an outspoken opponent of normalising relations with the Cuban authorities, a place Trump shares.
The top of the Home subcommittee overseeing Latin American affairs, he’s additionally a frequent and fierce critic of Nicolas Maduro’s authorities in Venezuela.
