Newly sworn-in Secretary of State Marco Rubio is hitting the ground running Tuesday with meetings with his counterparts in the Quad alliance, which includes India, Australia and Japan, a bloc formed to counter Chinese clout in the Indo-Pacific.
The meeting is set to take place Tuesday afternoon at 2:45 p.m. ET at the State Department, after Rubio became President Trump’s first confirmed cabinet secretary on Monday, receiving unanimous support in the Senate.
His public schedule also includes individual meetings with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi.
Rubio’s first official engagement with the Quad foreign ministers signals the Trump administration’s focus on the alliance that first began in 2007, as well as broader efforts to combat China.
“Today we’ll have a meeting with the Quad, with foreign ministers from Australia and India and Japan, to reaffirm the importance of working with allies across the world on the things that are important to America and Americans, and that’s what I’m focused on moving forward,” Rubio told NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday morning.
All the Quad foreign ministers were in attendance at President Trump’s inauguration at the Capitol Monday and were seated close to the front.
“Our attendance this week and close cooperation is a demonstration of our collective commitment to supporting peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” Wong wrote on X.
Former President Biden sought to reinvigorate the Quad alliance during his presidency to create a counterbalance to China in the Indo-Pacific. Unlike Trump, Biden has long trumpeted alliances as crucial to America’s strength around the world.
The leaders of the Quad countries met with Biden in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, in September last year.
