QUESTION:\u00a0 Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, thank you for talking to Bloomberg.\u00a0 You\u2019ve just made this rather remarkable speech where you talked about the destiny of Europe and America always being intertwined.\u00a0 You talked about the alliance which has stretched all the way, culturally, from Michelangelo to the Rolling Stones \u2013 a first, I suspect, for a secretary of state \u2013 but a culture that has bled and died together.\u00a0 But the very common theme of your speech was the need to share the burden, the need for Europe and America to do things together, which was slightly different from the Vice President last year.\u00a0 Were you kind of offering a carrot where perhaps he was offering a stick?<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 I think it\u2019s the same message.\u00a0 I think what the Vice President said last year very clearly was that Europe had made a series of decisions internally that were threatening to the alliance and ultimately to themselves, not because we hate Europe or we don\u2019t like Europeans but because \u2013 what is it that we fight for, what is it that binds us together?\u00a0 And ultimately, it\u2019s the fact that we are both heirs to the same civilization.\u00a0 And it\u2019s a great civilization and it\u2019s one we should be proud of.\u00a0 It\u2019s one that\u2019s contributed extraordinarily to the world and it\u2019s one, frankly, upon which America is built, from our language to our system of government to our laws to the food we eat to the name of our cities and towns \u2013 all of it deeply linked to this Western civilization and culture that we should be proud of, and it\u2019s worth defending.<\/p>\n
And ultimately, that\u2019s the point.\u00a0 The point is that people \u2013 people don\u2019t fight and die for abstract ideas.\u00a0 They are willing to fight and defend who they are and what matters and is important to them.\u00a0 And that was the foundation he laid last year in his speech \u2013 and we add on into this year \u2013 to explain to people that when we come off as urgent or even critical about decisions that Europe has failed to make or made, it is because we care.\u00a0 It is because we understand that ultimately, our own fate will be intertwined with what happens with Europe.\u00a0 We want Europe to survive, we want Europe to prosper, because we\u2019re interconnected in so many different ways and because our alliance is so critical.\u00a0 But it has to be an alliance of allies that are capable and willing to fight for who they are and what\u2019s important.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 You see a parallel \u2013 you seem to see a parallel between the Cold War, which I think I would argue that the \u2013 America beat the Soviet Union because it had a common idea and it had allies on its side.\u00a0 You\u2019re now in a struggle with China.\u00a0 As people say, you\u2019ve often been a hawk on that subject.\u00a0 You\u2019re in a struggle with China.\u00a0 Do you think you absolutely need Europe to be able to win that?<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 I would say two things.\u00a0 First, the mentions of the Cold War are to remind people of everything we\u2019ve achieved together in the past in times when there was doubt.\u00a0 I mean, it\u2019s hard to imagine today, but there were those who believed, in the 60s and 70s, even, that at a minimum, we had reached a stalemate, and worse, that perhaps Soviet expansion was inevitable and that we needed to come to accept it.\u00a0 There were voices that actually argued this.<\/p>\n
And so it\u2019s reminding people of what we\u2019ve done together in the past.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also a reminder that at the end of that era, when we won the Cold War, there was this euphoria that led us to make some terrible decisions that have now left us vulnerable \u2013 it deindustrialized the West; it left us increasingly dependent on others, including China, for our critical supplies.\u00a0 And that needs to be reversed in order to safeguard us.<\/p>\n
And so I do think, yes, it would be ideal to have a Western supply chain that is free from extortion from anyone \u2013 leave aside China \u2013 anybody else.\u00a0 We should never have to \u2013 we should never be in a situation where our alliance and our respective countries are vulnerable to extortion or blackmail because someone controls 99 percent of something that\u2019s critical to national life.\u00a0 So I think we do have a vested interest in that regard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today is different than yesterday, but it has parallels, not in that China\u2019s the new Soviet Union but that in our future, collectively we\u2019ll be stronger if we work on these things together.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 Do you worry from that perspective the fact that, especially in the recent period, various sort of allies \u2013 Mark Carney has just been to Beijing, Starmer has just been to Beijing, Merz is about to go there \u2013 do you worry that they\u2019re beginning to drift off too much in that direction?<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 I think nation-states need to interact with one another.\u00a0 Just because you\u2019ve \u2013 I mean, remember, I serve under a President that\u2019s willing to meet with anybody.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 I mean, to be frank, I\u2019m pretty confident in saying that if the ayatollah said tomorrow he wanted to meet with President Trump, the President would meet him, not because he agrees with the ayatollah but because he thinks that\u2019s the way you solve problems in the world, and he doesn\u2019t view meeting someone as a concession.\u00a0 Likewise, the President intends to travel to Beijing and has already met once with President Xi.\u00a0 And in this very forum yesterday, I met with my counterpart, the foreign minister of China.<\/p>\n
So we expect nation-states to interact with one another.\u00a0 In the end, we expect nation-states to act in their national interest.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that is \u2013 that in no way runs counter to our desire to work together on things that we share in common or threats we face in common.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t think visiting Beijing or meeting with the Chinese is \u2013 on the contrary, I think it would be irresponsible for great powers not to have relationships and talk through things and, to the extent possible, avoid unnecessary conflict.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But there will be areas we\u2019ll never agree on, and those are the areas that I hope we can work together on.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 So you think the Russia that many people have spoken about is illusory, that hasn\u2019t happened yet?<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 Well, there\u2019s no \u2013 I mean, even as I speak to you now, there are U.S. troops deployed here on this continent on behalf of NATO.\u00a0 There are still all kinds of cooperation that go on at every level; from intelligence to commercial and economic, the links remain.\u00a0 I think there is a readjustment that\u2019s happening, because I think we have to understand that we want to reinvigorate \u2013 this alliance has to look different because the world looks different.\u00a0 This alliance has to be about different things than it\u2019s been in the past because the challenges of the 21st century are different than the challenges of the 20th.\u00a0 The world has changed and the alliance has to change.<\/p>\n
But the fundamental thing that has to change is we have to remind ourselves of why it is we have an alliance in the first place.\u00a0 This is not just a military arrangement.\u00a0 This is not just some commercial arrangement.\u00a0 It is what holds us together in the first place as an alliance is our shared civilizational values, the fact that we are all heirs to a common civilization and one we should be very proud of.\u00a0 And only after we recognize that and make that the core of why it is we\u2019re allies in the first place can we then build out all the mechanics of that alliance.\u00a0 And then everything else we do together makes more sense.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0The place where that\u2019s being most obviously tested at the moment is Ukraine\u00a0 You see all these numbers from the front where the Ukrainians do seem to be doing better in terms of what\u2019s happening with the Russians.\u00a0 Do you think Ukraine \u2013 or do you think Russia is still winning that war, or where you do you \u2013 where do you place it militarily?<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 I think that\u2019s a difficult war to say anyone is winning.\u00a0 The Russians are losing seven to eight thousand soldiers a week \u2013 a week.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 Yes \u2014<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 Not wounded \u2013 dead.\u00a0 Ukraine has suffered extraordinary damage, including overnight, and again, to its energy infrastructure.\u00a0 And it will take billions of dollars and years and years to rebuild that country.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t think anyone can claim to be winning it.\u00a0 I think that both sides are suffering tremendous damage, and we\u2019d like to see the war come to an end.\u00a0 It\u2019s a senseless war in our view.\u00a0 The President believes that very deeply.\u00a0 He believes the war would have never happened had he been president at the time.<\/p>\n
So we\u2019re doing two things.\u00a0 Obviously we continue \u2013 look, we don\u2019t provide arms to Russia; we provide arms to Ukraine.\u00a0 We don\u2019t sanction Ukraine; we sanction Russia.\u00a0 But at the same time, we find ourselves in the unique position of serving as probably the only nation on Earth that can bring the two sides to discuss the potential for ending this war on negotiated terms.\u00a0 And it\u2019s an obligation we haven\u2019t \u2013 we won\u2019t walk away from because we think it\u2019s a very unique one to have.<\/p>\n
It may not come to fruition, unfortunately.\u00a0 I hope it does, and I think there are days when I feel more optimistic about it than others.\u00a0 But we\u2019re going to keep trying because that is \u2013 in the end, this war will not be solved militarily.\u00a0 It will be \u2013 in the end, it will come to a negotiated settlement.\u00a0 We\u2019d like to see that happen as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 Are you worried that if Ukraine loses the war it\u2019s going to be a disaster for the transatlantic relationship?\u00a0 Because the Americans will say the Europeans didn\u2019t provide enough arms, and Europeans will look and remember the meeting in the White House and Zelenskyy and Trump, and they will blame (inaudible).\u00a0<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 No, but that \u2013 that would ignore reality.\u00a0 Look, Ukraine \u2013 first of all, they deserve a lot of credit.\u00a0 They have fought very bravely.\u00a0 They have received an extraordinary amount of support from the United States to the tune of billions of dollars that preexist the war.\u00a0 In fact, Ukraine probably wouldn\u2019t have survived the early days of the war had it not been for American aid that came to them even before the war had started with the Javelin missile that disabled the tank (inaudible).\u00a0<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t saying it was fair.\u00a0 I was just saying there\u2019s a \u2013 you have to deal with perceptions.<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 Well, I mean people are saying \u2013 no, but I\u2019m not worried about that because I can tell you that I think history will understand it.\u00a0 But I don\u2019t think the war is going to end in a traditional loss in the way people think.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think it\u2019s possible for Russia to even achieve whatever initial objectives they had at the beginning of this war.\u00a0 I think now it\u2019s largely narrowed down to their desire to take 20 percent of Donetsk that they don\u2019t currently possess.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s hard.\u00a0 It\u2019s a hard concession for Ukraine to make for obvious reasons, both from a tactical standpoint and also from a political one.\u00a0 And so that\u2019s kind of where this thing has narrowed, and we\u2019ll continue to search for ways to see if there is a solution to that unique problem that\u2019s acceptable to Ukraine and that Russia will also accept.\u00a0 And it may not work out, but we are going to do everything we can to see if we can find a deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like I said, there are days like last week where you felt we had made some pretty substantial progress.\u00a0 But ultimately, we have to see a final resolution to this to feel that it\u2019s been worth the work, but we\u2019re going to keep trying.\u00a0 And our negotiator, Steve Witkoff \u2013 now Jared Kushner\u2019s involved \u2013 have dedicated a tremendous amount of time to this, and they\u2019ll have meetings again on Tuesday in regards to this.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 What about a country with which you\u2019ve had a long interest: Cuba?\u00a0 You mentioned it obliquely in the speech talking about the Cuban Missile Crisis.\u00a0 How long do you think the regime can last without oil?<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 Yeah, I think the regime in Cuba is \u2013 look, the revolution in Cuba ended a long time ago and \u2013 Cuba\u2019s fundamental problem is that it has no economy and its economic model is one that has never been tried and has never worked anywhere else in the world, okay?\u00a0 It just \u2013 it doesn\u2019t have a real economic policy.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t have a real economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, forget \u2013 put aside for a moment the fact that it has no freedom of expression, no democracy, no respect for human rights.\u00a0 The fundamental problem Cuba has it is has no economy, and the people who are in charge of that country, in control of that country, they don\u2019t know how to improve the everyday life of their people without giving up power over sectors that they control.\u00a0 They want to control everything.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want the people of Cuba to control anything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So they don\u2019t know how to get themselves out of this.\u00a0 And to the extent that they have been offered opportunities to do it, they don\u2019t seem to be able to comprehend it or accept it in any ways.\u00a0 They would much rather be in charge of the country than allow it to prosper.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 Is there any kind of off-ramp for the regime?\u00a0 I mean, previous ones \u2013 when you negotiated with Venezuela, you said if they agreed with various things it would be possible to continue.<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 I mean, there is.\u00a0 I mean, look, I think you have to \u2014<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 What could \u2013 what could the Cuban regime do to \u2014<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 Well, I\u2019m not going to tell you or announce this in an interview here because obviously these things require space and time to do in the right way.\u00a0 But I will say this, that that is that it is important for the people of Cuba to have more freedom, not just political freedom but economic freedom.\u00a0 The people of Cuba \u2013 and that\u2019s what this regime has not been willing to give them because they\u2019re afraid that if the people of Cuba can provide for themselves, they lose control over them, they lose power over them.<\/p>\n
So I think there has to be that opening and it has to happen, and I think now Cuba is faced with such a dire situation.\u00a0 Remember this is a regime that has survived almost entirely on subsidies \u2013 first from the Soviet Union, then from Hugo Chavez, and how for the first time it has no subsidies coming in from anyone, and the model has been laid bare.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not just \u2013 look, multiple countries have gone in and helped, but the problem is that you lose money in Cuba.\u00a0 They never pay their bills.\u00a0 They never end up paying.\u00a0 It never ends up working out.\u00a0 There were European countries that went to Cuba and made what they thought were investments in certain sectors, only to have them \u2013 the contracts canceled and get themselves kicked out because the Cuban regime has no fundamental understanding of what business and industry looks like, and the people are suffering as a result of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So I think certainly their willingness to begin to make openings in this regard is one potential way forward.\u00a0 I would also say \u2013 and this has not been really talked about a lot, but the United States has been providing humanitarian assistance directly to the Cuban people via the Catholic Church.\u00a0 We did it after the hurricane.\u00a0 We actually just recently announced an increase in the amount we\u2019re willing to give.\u00a0 And that\u2019s something we\u2019re willing to continue to explore, but obviously that\u2019s not a long-term solution to the problems on the island.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 One last thing: Iran.\u00a0 You\u2019ve just sent a carrier \u2013 a second carrier \u2013 there.\u00a0 Is that \u2013 and President Trump has talked about a month to give people time.\u00a0 Are you running out of patience there?<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 Well, I\u2019d say twofold.\u00a0 Number one is I think it\u2019s pretty clear that Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, that that poses a threat not just to the United States, to Europe, to world security, and to the region.\u00a0 There\u2019s no doubt about it.<\/p>\n
The second is we obviously want to have forces in the region because Iran has shown the willingness and the capability to lash and strike out at the United States presence in the region.\u00a0 We have bases because of our alliances in the region, and Iran has shown in the past that they are willing to attack us and\/or threaten our bases.\u00a0 So we have to have sufficient firepower in the region to ensure that they don\u2019t make a mistake and come after us and trigger something larger.<\/p>\n
Beyond that, the President has said that his preference is to reach a deal with Iran.\u00a0 That\u2019s very hard to do, but he\u2019s going to try.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do right now, and Steve Witkoff and Jared have some meetings lined up fairly soon.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see if we can make any progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The President would always prefer to end problems with a deal.\u00a0 He would always prefer that, so we\u2019re going to give it a chance here again and see if it works.<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 Secretary Marco Rubio, thank you very much for talking to Bloomberg.<\/p>\n
SECRETARY RUBIO:\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
QUESTION:\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"QUESTION:\u00a0 Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, thank you for talking to Bloomberg.\u00a0 You\u2019ve just made this rather remarkable…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-468164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}