Marco Rubio to travel to Malaysia for first Asia trip
Rubio will travel to Kuala Lumpur in four days, during which time he'll participate in the ASEAN-United States Post-Ministerial Conference, the East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting, and the ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the State Department said in a press release.
He is also scheduled to touch base with senior Malaysian officials, according to a press release, in order to "highlight the strength" of the American commitment to "building on our comprehensive partnership with Malaysia."
Rubio was previously scheduled to travel to Japan and South Korea for his first Asia trip at the start of July, but instead hosted the foreign ministers of Japan, India and Australia in Washington last week for talks on the economy.
Rubio's visit also comes as President Donald Trump was set to send out letters on Monday to 12 unnamed countries with a "take it or leave it" offer on tariff negotiations.
Trump on Monday warned that countries that support BRICS nations would face an additional 10% tariff when the broad tariffs take effect on Aug. 1.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim posted to social media Sunday that he had just taken part in the first day of the BRICS Leaders' Summit, which he said focused "on strengthening multilateralism, reforming the global economic and financial system, and promoting ethical governance of artificial intelligence."
Malaysia in not a member nation of BRICS, an organization that does include Russia, China and Iran, but Ibrahim also said in his Sunday post that "Malaysia champions an agenda aligned with BRICS' aspirations," and that "Malaysia is ready to collaborate closely with BRICS and partner countries," among other comments.
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CNN
13 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump wants to talk business with Africa in hopes of countering China. But a US summit excluded Africa's big players
The White House hosted an 'African leaders' summit of sorts this week. But only five countries from the continent of more than 50 nations were welcome to join. US President Donald Trump hosted a working lunch in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, bringing together the presidents of Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Senegal, and Gabon for a discussion focused on 'commercial opportunities,' a White House official told CNN. 'This discussion and lunch dialog with African heads of state was arranged because President Trump believes that African countries offer incredible commercial opportunities which benefit both the American people and our African partners,' the White House official said. The multilateral lunch is scheduled for noon in the State Dining Room of the White House. Going into the meeting, Liberia said that the 'high-level summit' intends 'to deepen diplomatic ties, advance shared economic goals, and enhance security cooperation' between Washington and 'select African nations.' However, none of Africa's big players, such as its largest economies South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Ethiopia, were asked to attend. These nations are allied to BRICS, a group of emerging economies founded by Brazil, India, and America's adversaries, Russia and China. BRICS members face the threat of being hit with new tariffs from Trump for supporting 'anti-American' policies. During the meeting, the five African leaders heaped praise on Trump as they encouraged him to invest in their countries and develop their plentiful natural resources. The leaders joined the US president for lunch in the State Dining Room, where each leader went around the table thanking Trump for his invitation. 'I didn't know I'd be treated this nicely. This is great. We could do this all day long,' Trump said in response to the flattery. Christopher Afoke Isike, a professor of African politics and international relations at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, describes Trump's handpicked guests for his US summit as 'low-hanging fruit' in his quest to counter Chinese and Russian influence in Africa. 'On one hand, Trump is desperate for some deal to show to his base that he is getting results for America. But some of these also align with his focus on countering Chinese influence in Africa and malign Russian activity which undermines US interests on the continent,' he told CNN. 'Most of the regional powers in Africa are either in BRICS as key members or are aspiring to join as key partners,' Isike said, adding that 'these five countries (attending the US summit) do not fall into that category and as such are a kind of low-hanging fruit.' China is Africa's largest bilateral trading partner while its ally Russia has expanded its footprint on the continent, emerging as a major supplier of military hardware. This is not the first time Trump has hosted a small group of African leaders in the US, deviating from the approach of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who hosted fuller gatherings of African heads of government while in the White House. During his first term in office — viewed by some as 'dismissive toward Africa' — Trump hosted a 'working lunch' in 2017 with nine African heads of state, whom he described as 'partners for promoting prosperity and peace on a range of economic, humanitarian, and security issues.' 'Africa has tremendous business potential,' Trump said in that meeting, which included the leaders of Nigeria, Ethiopia, and South Africa. Now in his second term, Trump has kept an eye on Africa's mineral wealth, with the US keen to challenge China's access to critical minerals in the region. However, he advocates a transactional policy that swaps charity for strategic US investment. When a peace deal brokered by Trump was signed last month by Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which harbors large deposits of minerals critical to the production of electronics, Trump told reporters that the accord allows the US to get 'a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo.' While the signed peace agreement does not specifically forfeit any mineral rights to the US, the document includes a framework 'to expand foreign trade and investment derived from regional critical mineral supply chains,' specifically to 'link both countries, in partnership, as appropriate, with the US government and US investors.' In a statement July 1, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hailed the end of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which delivered US humanitarian aid overseas, saying that 'the countries that benefit the most from our generosity usually fail to reciprocate' and that future US aid and investment 'must be in furtherance of an America First foreign policy.' The Trump administration had previously canceled more than 80% of programs at USAID and has imposed 'reciprocal' tariffs on several countries, including many in Africa which Trump said had trade deficits with the US. South Africa has described the 'reciprocal' tariff which is due to take effect on August 1 as not based on 'an accurate representation of available trade data.' Trump has also banned travel for 12 mostly African and Middle Eastern nations – citing security risks – amid an aggressive clampdown on immigration by his administration. A mooted expansion of the travel restrictions would halt travel to the US for swathes of West Africa, if implemented. China, meanwhile, is softening the impact of US tariffs on Africa, announcing last month it would halt charges on imports for nearly all its African partners, except Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) which is friendly toward Taiwan — which China's ruling Communist Party claims as its own, despite never having controlled it. Although small economies, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal and Liberia are rich in mineral resources including oil and gas, gold, iron ore, and rare earth elements. At the White House meeting, Gabon's President Brice Oligui Nguema underscored the mineral wealth of their countries and encouraged the US to partner with them to develop their resources. 'We are not poor countries. We are rich countries when it comes to raw materials. But we need partners to support us and help us develop those resources with win-win partnerships,' he said. Nguema also pushed Trump to purchase from Gabon rather than through companies. 'I'm sure that it's more expensive compared to when you can come and buy directly from us,' he said. Discussions at the Trump-hosted summit extended beyond commerce. Nguema addressed his country's efforts to curb piracy in the Gulf of Guinea. 'We can't do it alone. We need a reliable and strong partner that is committed and that takes real action,' he added. The West and Central African nations are also a common departure point for would-be migrants to the US. 'There may be other stakes: migratory trends from West Africa to Nicaragua and then the US,' as well as 'security, as all of those (five) countries have an opening on the Atlantic Ocean,' Ousmane Sene, who heads the Senegal-based research organization, the West African Research Center (WARC), told CNN. Last year, the New York Times reported, citing government data, that the US was seeing an increasing number of African migrants at its southern border — rising from just over 13,000 in 2022 to 58,462 in 2023. Nationals from Mauritania and Senegal were top of the list, the report said. For Dakar-based journalist and political analyst Mamadou Thior, who covered the first US–Africa Leaders' Summit hosted by Obama in 2014, the leaders of the five African nations must 'be as clever as Donald Trump' in talks with the White House. 'Trump is a businessman. So only the interests of America interest him,' Thior said. 'The USAID, which was a key partner for countries like Senegal, no longer exists. It's up to them to talk to Trump, to see what new cooperation they can put forward.' In Isike's view, 'this meeting is going to inaugurate a new US diplomatic model — one that is transactionally tied to economic reform (and) trade outcomes for the US.' Nonetheless, the five African nations 'can expect to leverage private sector partnerships, investment, infrastructural development, and security cooperation with the US,' he said. These nations are not new to high-stakes relations with global powers. They have each been courted by China, which has boosted trade volumes between them and funded infrastructure in Gabon and Senegal. When Guinea-Bissau President Umaro Sissoco Embaló met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing in September, the former had kind words for the host nation. 'For Africa,' Embaló said, according to a statement by Chinese foreign ministry, 'China represents the future and is a brother.' 'Guinea-Bissau is willing to be a trustworthy friend and partner of China,' he added. Last month, Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko was also full of praise for China, thanking it for awarding dozens 'of preparation scholarships' to his nation's athletes and coaches ahead of next year's Summer Youth Olympics. In the same statement, Sonko expressed frustration with the US decision to deny visas to 'several members of the Senegal women's national basketball team' — a leading force in African women's basketball — forcing them to cancel a training camp they had scheduled in the US. With a wider African leaders' summit mooted by the White House for later in the year, Trump has made one thing clear, according to Isike: an urgent shift 'from traditional aid to strategic commerce-driven engagement.' However, the shift is 'a high-stakes gamble that aligns with America's goal to reset its influence in Africa through investment but also to counter China and foster economically self-reliant African partners,' Isike added. 'Enabling Africa to be self-reliant is not because he (Trump) loves Africa, but because he doesn't have patience with countries that only want handouts from the US,' Isike said, adding that 'these trade deals and the meeting (this week) aligns with the US' priority to favor countries that are able to help themselves.' CNN's Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.
Los Angeles Times
3 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Sectarian violence claims hundreds of lives in Syrian province
Hosam Saraya and other members of his family were forced out of their house and executed. Saraya, 35, became an American citizen about two years ago and attended Oklahoma Christian University. 'Hosam and his family deserve justice, and those responsible for this atrocity must be held accountable,' a State Department spokesperson said.
UPI
6 hours ago
- UPI
Trump deploys 2 nuclear submarines to deter Russia
President Donald Trump on Friday announced the deployment of two nuclear submarines to deter a potential threat made by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday. File Photo by Don S. Montgomery/U.S. Navy/UPI | License Photo Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Comments made by Russian Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday spurred President Donald Trump to reposition two U.S. nuclear submarines to deter any military threats. Medvedev in a social media post suggested Trump should be wary of Russia's automatic nuclear strike capabilities and suggested the president watch "The Walking Dead" television series, The New York Times reported. Trump called Medvedev's comments "highly provocative" and viewed them as a potential threat against the United States. "I have ordered two nuclear submarines in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Friday. "Words are very important and can often lead to unintended consequences," Trump continued. "I hope that this will not be one of those. instances." Medvedev formerly was Russia's president from May 7, 2008, to May 7, 2012, and is the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council. Trump told reporters, "We just have to be very careful," as he was leaving the White House on Friday, ABC News reported. "A threat was made by the former president of Russia," he said, "and we're going to protect our people." Trump and his administration did not say when and where the submarines are being deployed or their military capabilities. A White House official told ABC News the president was engaging in "strategic ambiguity" in the matter. Medvedev earlier this week criticized Trump for reducing to 10 days the president's ultimatum to Russian President Vladimir Putin to show progress toward ending Russia's war against Ukraine. "Trump's playing the ultimatum game with Russia: 50 days or 10," Medvedev said in a social media post, as reported by The Guardian. "He should remember two things," Medvedev said. "Russia isn't Israel or even Iran," and "each new ultimatum is a threat and a step toward war" between the United States and Russia. Medvedev cautioned Trump, "Don't go down the Sleepy Joe [Biden] road!" Trump has accused Putin of stalling efforts to reach a cease-fire with Ukraine. The president said he could end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours while he was campaigning last year. Putin on Friday said he wanted a "lasting and stable peace" in Ukraine, but did not respond to Trump's ultimatum, according to The Guardian.
