- 2 days ago
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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00:00Should I? I'm sure we'll cover it all in your questions. Go ahead.
00:07What was your message to the Russian foreign minister today and what is the Trump administration's strategy now to end the Ukraine war?
00:15Well our strategy is to continue to engage all the parties that are involved in finding an outcome to this conflict.
00:20We will engage any time that we have an opportunity to do so like we did today.
00:24I echoed what the president said of both disappointment and frustration at the lack of progress in peace talks or in a path forward.
00:34So we'll continue to engage.
00:36We shared some ideas and comments which I'll take back to Washington as early as this evening in terms of calls and reflected and perhaps there's something to build on there.
00:46So but it was a frank conversation. It was an important one.
00:49We had it and we talked about some other items as well and related to the war in Ukraine.
00:54But that was the obviously the first and foremost topic that we discussed.
00:58And look the president's been pretty clear.
01:00He's disappointed and frustrated that there's not been more flexibility on the Russian side to bring about an end to this conflict.
01:07We hope that can change. And we're going to continue to stay involved where we see opportunities to make a difference.
01:14Without speaking for the foreign minister, which I know you don't want to do.
01:18Which foreign minister?
01:19This one.
01:20Oh.
01:21Mr. Lavrov.
01:22Yes.
01:23Without speaking for him, did you get the sense that they're moving towards flexibility?
01:28Yeah, I'm not going to characterize our conversation other than to tell you that I expressed what the president has said publicly,
01:35which is that we feel as if we've dedicated a lot of time and energy to this matter and just not enough progress has been made.
01:43We need to see a roadmap moving forward about how this conflict can conclude.
01:47And then we shared some ideas about what that might look like.
01:50And obviously I'll take that back to the president here as early as this evening.
01:54And hopefully there's something that we can build on there.
01:57But we'll find out.
01:58Secretary, a couple of months ago you said that what was necessary to end this war would be a conversation between President Trump and President Putin.
02:07But there have now been multiple phone calls between the two of them and yet the war in Ukraine goes on.
02:13Does this speak to any weakness in terms of the president's ability to negotiate an end to this conflict?
02:19Or why does it persist despite them having spoken?
02:22Well, this is a war that the president inherited, right?
02:24He got elected and had already been going on.
02:26And no progress had been made until that point towards peace of any kind.
02:30In fact, there had not even been any meetings between the Ukrainians and the Russians for quite some time.
02:35So while there's been some humanitarian exchanges made, obviously that's our goal here is to end this war in any role we can play.
02:43So this is not a war that started under President Trump.
02:46It's a war that wouldn't have happened had he been president.
02:48But now it's here.
02:49And we'll continue to engage and do everything we can and hopefully make progress.
02:53As I said, and I've said repeatedly, look, if we see an opportunity to make a difference in this, we're going to take it and we're going to pursue it.
03:00And that's what the president has done.
03:01And he deserves tremendous credit for having multiple phone calls with leaders from both countries and anybody else.
03:07Mr. Secretary, Russia has launched its most massive attacks in the last three days.
03:14And you, of course, your counterpart today.
03:17Are you willing now to put stronger sanctions on Russia?
03:20Well, the president has said that that's an option that's available to him, both under existing authorities,
03:25but primarily if the Senate and the House can pass legislation that gives them the opportunity to do that.
03:30So we've been engaging with Congress on what that bill would look like.
03:34Obviously, the president needs flexibility on how those sanctions would be applied and when,
03:39because it gives them, you know, maximum leverage in any conversation and negotiation.
03:44So he has talked about that as being a real option.
03:46And now obviously we'll, you know, we've been engaging with the Senate in particular over the last week on what that bill will look like.
03:52And the leaders of both chambers have said that they're prepared to begin to move forward on that.
03:58We've expressed this to the Russians weeks ago.
04:00We told them that the moment would come where something like this could happen.
04:04And we'll continue to express it because that's the reality.
04:07But has the moment come or not yet?
04:09Well, I mean, again, that's the president's decision to make.
04:12We are obviously, he's frustrated by the fact that more progress has not been made.
04:17Mr. Secretary, there were reports earlier this week that you and the president were unaware that the Pentagon had made a decision
04:23to at least temporarily halt the arms shipments to Ukraine.
04:26Were you, what's your take on that decision by the Pentagon?
04:30And what is your general take on that decision?
04:32Well, I think that decision has been, yeah, that decision unfortunately was mischaracterized.
04:35It was a pause pending review on a handful of specific type munitions.
04:40That frankly is something that is logical that you would do, especially after an extended engagement
04:45that we saw both in defense of Israel and in defense of our own bases.
04:48And so it was a very limited review of certain types of munitions to ensure that we had sufficient stockpiles.
04:56And it's typical when you do these reviews that there's a short-term pause because if, in fact,
05:02the review comes back that you have a shortage, you can't pull it back once it's been sent.
05:06But generally speaking, aid to Ukraine continues along the schedule that Congress appropriated.
05:11Which types were paused?
05:13Huh?
05:14Which types of weapons were paused?
05:15Largely defensive in nature.
05:17Some were offensive.
05:18But again, the ones that were expended in recent conflicts in the Middle East.
05:22And again, not because there is a shortage, but because it's prudent to look at it and say,
05:26okay, do we have enough of these in our stockpiles for all of our obligations around the world,
05:30both in defense of our bases in the Middle East, but also our obligations to our Indo-Pacific partners
05:35and any other contingencies that might arise?
05:38But in the end, I would say that the overwhelming majority of military aid that the United States provides Ukraine
05:44has never been paused and continues along the same schedules that it's been.
05:48I think there's a broader issue unrelated to the pause, and that involves the defense productive capabilities of the West,
05:53not just us, but of Europe.
05:55As an example, one of the things that the Ukrainians need is more Patriot batteries.
06:00There are Patriot batteries available in multiple countries in Europe, yet no one wants to part with them.
06:04So I hope that'll change.
06:06If in fact that Ukraine is the priority that so many countries in Europe say it is,
06:11they should be willing to share batteries that right now they don't have a need to use.
06:16So hopefully we'll be able to convince some of our NATO partners to provide those Patriot batteries to Ukraine,
06:23because there are a number of countries that have them, but no one wants to part with what they have.
06:27So perhaps that'll change. That's important.
06:29Mr. Secretary, you mentioned wanting to see a roadmap for how this conflict can conclude.
06:34What concrete ideas have you presented, and how did Russia respond in this meeting?
06:39Well, I, again, these things are best negotiated. I don't want to, in private, and that's how these things generally work.
06:45There were some ideas exchanged today, some viewpoints that they expressed to us that I'll take back to the President for his consideration,
06:52and hopefully it will lead to something. I don't want to overpromise.
06:55And, again, as I said, this is a conflict that's been going on now for three, over three years.
06:59And, as has already been pointed out by one of the questions here, we've seen an acceleration of attacks.
07:05I think it's the, probably the largest drone attack in a city close to the Polish border, actually.
07:11So it's a pretty deep strike. And, again, I mean, it's, it's, every time you see this in the headlines and people die,
07:18it reminds you of why the President wants this war to end, as he has said from the beginning.
07:22His number one interest here is to stop people from dying and the destruction that's ongoing every single day.
07:28They're going to be having a conference, maybe it starts today, if I'm not mistaken, about reconstruction and the rebuilding of Ukraine.
07:35Every time one of these strikes is launched, the price of reconstruction goes up, right?
07:40There's also the, the, the destruction of the, the, the country's capabilities, the country's economic capabilities that has to be added to this.
07:47But, obviously, the loss of life is something of grave interest, of great interest to the President.
07:52It's important to note that since January of this year, as an example, just to give you on the Russian side, they've lost 100,000 soldiers.
07:59Dead. Not India, I'm talking about dead. And on the Ukrainian side, the numbers are less, but still very significant.
08:04And so that's, the President doesn't like wars. He thinks wars are a waste of money and a waste of lives.
08:11And he wants them to end. And he's going to do everything he can within his power to end this war and any other war he has a chance to end, as you've seen in the past.
08:18And so we're going to continue to work at it. We understand that these things take time and patience.
08:22But, obviously, we're also frustrated that more progress has not been made.
08:25And, hopefully, we, based on today and in the days to come, we'll have more clarity about what exactly the Russian position and priorities are in this regard and, and can begin to make some progress.
08:36But it's, you know, it's been difficult, as you've seen.
08:41China's been supporting Russia. Will you meet with your Chinese counterpart here this week to speak to him about that?
08:46Yeah, I think we're working on that. Maybe, maybe we'll meet. And, obviously, we'll talk about it. You know, I think, you know, the Chinese clearly have been supportive of the Russian effort.
08:53And I think that, generally, they've been willing to help them as much as they can without getting caught. But people in Europe and other parts of the world have noticed.
09:01But, in the end, this peace, if it's possible and doable, will happen between Ukraine and Russia. And we are willing to do it. If it's possible and doable, will happen between Ukraine and Russia.
09:14And we are willing to do whatever we can to help bring it to an end.
09:17Can I ask an ASEAN question?
09:18I would.
09:19An ASEAN question.
09:20Yeah, of course. That's why we're here, right?
09:21Can I ask you one more quick question on Russia? Just these ideas that were put on the table today, would you characterize them as new ideas from the Russian side that the Trump administration had not heard before?
09:30Yes. Well, I think maybe, yes. I think it's a new and a different approach. Again, I wouldn't characterize it as something that guarantees a peace. But it's a concept that, you know, we'll take back to the President today. And here as soon as I finish with you.
09:49I just wanted to know, what was your sense today after your meeting, the PMC meeting with the ASEAN foreign ministers about how big and irritant the tariffs are to U.S. relations both with ASEAN as a block but individual countries?
10:04Well, I think, look, there are two things to understand. Number one is these letters that are going out and these trade changes are happening with every country in the world.
10:11I mean, basically every country in the world. The President's been very clear. And he has been, frankly, if you go back to videos of him speaking in the 80s about his feeling that the state of global trade is unfair to the United States,
10:24that for far too long we allowed these imbalances to develop. We are the world's largest consumer. We're a huge market where people export things to us.
10:31And with these huge and unsustainable imbalances have developed with countries all over the world. And so this is a globalized effort to reset U.S. trade in a way that's beneficial to the United States.
10:42And not just in dollars and cents, but also in our own domestic industrial capacity. So this has been made clear to countries around the world.
10:50We were coming up upon June, upon the middle of this month, and the markets demand certainty. And so these letters set a baseline.
10:57Now obviously that does not foreclose the opportunity for individual countries to enter into negotiations that perhaps can adjust those numbers.
11:06But in the end the President still remains very committed to a rebalancing of trade that's fair to America.
11:13And also at the same time protects our own industrial capabilities.
11:16Right. But you're here today meeting with ASEAN countries and those countries, almost all of them, got letters this week.
11:25Yeah. But anywhere in the world, well I guess my point to you is anywhere in the world I would have traveled this week they got a letter.
11:31So everybody got a letter. And in some cases some of these countries got a letter where their tariff rate is lower than some of their neighbors or maybe a country somewhere else in the world.
11:40So it might even serve as an advantage. But of course it's raised. It's an issue. But I wouldn't say it solely defines our relationship with many of these countries.
11:47There are a lot of other issues that we work together on. And I think there was great enthusiasm that we were here and that we're a part of this.
11:53A reminder that next week we'll have another high-ranking delegation including Secretary Lutnik, Deputy Landau from the Department of State.
12:00We'll be traveling to Japan for the World Expo there. And he'll be involved in talks there as well.
12:08You know my very first meeting, I don't know if you know this, but when I was sworn in I went to the State Department.
12:14I gave a speech on these steps. And then my first meeting right out of the box was with Japan, South Korea, and India.
12:20And we've repeated that meeting numerous times since then with that group and attention to others.
12:25We have a running internal joke with my counterpart from Japan. I have literally now seen him about 8 to 12 times.
12:30And our joke is that we see each other more than we see our own families.
12:35And so these engagements are very important to us. And we're going to continue to stay very committed.
12:40Because as I said to all of our partners, this notion or idea that the United States would ever be distracted by the Indo-Pacific or even Southeast Asia,
12:49is impossible. You can't be, maybe it doesn't always, wars get more attention, but it's impossible to not be focused.
12:56This is where much of the story of the 21st century is going to be written.
13:00This is where two-thirds of economic growth is going to happen over the next 25 or 30 years.
13:04And many of the countries in Southeast Asia, not only are they some of the youngest countries in the world,
13:08but they're about to see an enormous expansion of their labor markets, their labor pool, number of workers.
13:14This is a historic, once in a generation opportunity, not just for these countries to revolutionize themselves from an economic standpoint,
13:22but further strengthen our relationship.
13:24We have over 6,000 American companies that have invested heavily in these economies over the last 20 or 30 years.
13:30These are, we're not abandoning those relationships. On the contrary, we want to strengthen and build upon them.
13:35And there are a bunch of other issues, and certainly trade is part of it, but there are a lot of other issues that we work together on,
13:41and we continue to highly prioritize that. The story of the 21st century will be written in the Indo-Pacific.
13:48And the countries represented here today, along with others that have joined to be a part of this,
13:52represent some of, not just important markets, some of the most important partners we have in the world.
13:57Last question.
13:58This is obviously a very quick trip. Do you intend to come back to Asia or the Southeast Asian area on a longer trip sometime in the future?
14:06Sure, absolutely. This was a great trip because we got to see, you know, 12, 13, 14, 15 countries that are all here.
14:11So these forums, there'll be a leaders forum here in October, which we look forward to being a part of it.
14:17We've also engaged with many of our colleagues here at different forums.
14:20Many of them, for example, not just at the G7 foreign ministers, they also attended on the sidelines of NATO,
14:25at the foreign minister level, and also at the leaders level.
14:28So we'll continue to engage with the region, both in Washington and other places around the world,
14:32and in our return travel here. And so we'll be back in addition. And it's not just me.
14:39The Secretary of Defense has been out here. The Deputy Secretary of State will be here next week.
14:45So we'll look for other opportunities. Obviously, the leaders forum will be here in October as well.
14:52So we'll be here. We'll be engaged as we do every single day.
14:57Secretary, there's a review right now by the administration of the AUKUS deal at the last administration forged.
15:02And I think that raises some questions among Asia Pacific allies and partners about the U.S. defense commitment here in Asia.
15:09What do you say to people?
15:11Well, look, any time a new administration takes over, there's a review of all policies.
15:16I mean, a review doesn't necessarily mean you're against it.
15:19We did a review at the State Department of our diplomatic presence around the world,
15:23because I wanted to know which consulates and embassies could be adjusted both in their size and in their presence.
15:29Could we consolidate a presence? We did a review. We haven't closed any embassies, but we did a review.
15:34So just because you're reviewing something doesn't mean you're going to necessarily act on it.
15:37It means you're a new administration and you want to take an audit and an account about all the policies that you've inherited.
15:42And policies, how they've changed since the last time you were in office when it comes to the Trump administration.
15:47So, but our policies in AUKUS have not changed.
15:50What else?
15:52Are you hopeful on a Gaza ceasefire in the next few days?
15:55Well, we're hopeful. I mean, in the end, we're hoping they'll move to proximity talks.
15:59It appears that generally the terms have been agreed to, but obviously now you need to have talks about how you implement those terms.
16:06And I spoke to Steve Woodcoff last night, and he's optimistic that proximity talks will begin fairly soon, expedited and facilitated by the Qataris and the Egyptians.
16:19And so, but we've seen talks fall apart in the past at that stage of proximity talks.
16:26So I think we're closer, and I think perhaps, you know, we're closer than we've been in quite a while.
16:31And we're hopeful, but we also recognize there are still some challenges in the way.
16:35And, you know, one of the fundamental challenges is Hamas's unwillingness to disarm, which would end this conflict immediately.
16:41If they just release the hostages, there shouldn't be a single hostage.
16:45There shouldn't be a single hostage body still left.
16:47If they release that and disarm, this would end.
16:50But that said, the Israelis have shown some flexibility here, and so I think we've made, we've seen progress made.
16:56So we're hopeful, but we also understand that these things are, have been difficult for a reason.
17:01But we are, we're hopeful that they can move to proximity talks pretty quickly and go from there and have a ceasefire in place in the near future.
17:08Are there any sticking points from the Israeli side, such as on aid or the withdrawal of Israeli troops?
17:15Where does that stand?
17:16Well, the sticking point would be on the Hamas side.
17:17I mean, Hamas basically wants Israel to withdraw completely and allow them to go back to being Hamas.
17:22Obviously, the Israelis aren't going to agree to that.
17:24I think the easiest way to end this, that's not what the agreement is, but the easiest way to end this is for all the hostages to be released and for Hamas to disarm.
17:32You know, absent that, the Israelis and Hamas through the intermediation, through the mediation of Qatar and Egypt, have reached an understanding on a 60-day ceasefire and some elements of that with regards to humanitarian aid through international agencies resuming and so forth.
17:51But now you've got to have talks about how do you implement that.
17:54And that's where this has fallen apart in the past.
17:56We're hopeful that it'll work out.
17:57We're doing everything we can.
17:58We'd like to see a ceasefire.
18:00The President's been clear.
18:01He wants to see a ceasefire.
18:02And we've invested a lot of time and energy.
18:04I know Steve Woodcoff works hours every single day on this topic alone.
18:08So we've invested a lot of time into that.
18:11We'd like to see it happen.
18:12Okay?
18:13All right.
18:14Any eye impersonator of you?
18:15Anything you can say about who is behind that?
18:18No, I mean, anybody.
18:20It could happen to anybody.
18:21I mean, everybody, especially if you're a public figure, they just got to get enough, like they could take the interview out of here today and change it around.
18:27But, you know, as soon as I found out about it last week, I referred it to the FBI, Diplomatic Security, and others.
18:34It won't be the last time you see me or others for that matter.
18:37Maybe some of you will be impersonated.
18:39But it's just a reality of this AI technology that's going on and it's a real threat.
18:44How did you find out?
18:46Oh, somebody called me.
18:48It was a senator that called me and said, hey, did you just try to reach me and actually sent me a voice recording?
18:52It doesn't sound, it doesn't really sound like me.
18:54I mean, if you fell for that call, you know, but maybe there was a better one that I didn't see, you know.
18:59It was on Signal, right?
19:00I don't know how they got it or if it was a voicemail.
19:03No, it doesn't matter what form you use.
19:05It doesn't matter if it's Signal or anything else.
19:07There are more secure methods.
19:08In Signal, you can create an account with an email address and that was one of the reasons that they were able to reach out to people and then use the voicemail messages to imitate your voice.
19:18I've had people in the past ask me if I texted them.
19:21Like, within days of becoming Secretary of State, I had foreign ministers calling the State Department asking if I had just texted them.
19:28So, I don't know guys, this is just the reality of the 21st century with AI and fake stuff that's going on.
19:35It's generally, I communicate with my counterparts around the world through official channels for a reason and that's to avoid this.
19:43So, you know.
19:46Do you have any sense if you're a perpetrator?
19:48Sorry.
19:49No.
19:50I mean, you don't have any sense.
19:51A perpetrator is somebody with an AI software.
19:52That could be anybody in the world.
19:54My sense is the target really isn't me.
19:56The target is the people they're reaching out to to try and trick them into a call or whatever and who knows what they do with it.
20:01But you're going to hear about this for a long time.
20:04I mean, not just me.
20:05It'll happen to other people because all you need is a recording of someone's voice and you can come up with it.
20:09So, yeah, it's just one of the other great challenges posed to us by AI.
20:15I'm sure there's a lot of positive aspects to AI as well, but this ain't one of them.
20:19You said, Secretary, that the weapons pause by the Pentagon in the narrow scope in which it occurred made sense.
20:28But was it a decision on which the State Department was consulted or what was the level of-
20:32No, it wasn't a-
20:33No, no, no.
20:34I said it was a review.
20:35It was a pause-pending review.
20:36And so we were constantly-
20:39The Pentagon is constantly reviewing stockpiles, especially after an engagement such as the one we had in the Middle East.
20:47So my point is that there wasn't a policy decision not to give weapons to Ukraine.
20:52It was a review in which certain munitions were temporarily paused for that review and for that purpose.
20:59And this reporting out there that there was no awareness of it is not true now.
21:03But no policy decision was made.
21:05In essence, no one ever said, we're not sending weapons to Ukraine.
21:08That's been appropriated by Congress and that's continued.
21:11And that continues to this very day.
21:13But when you're doing a review, there's some period of time in which during that review, it's possible that some shipping is slowed down, not stopped.
21:24But because it's being reviewed, someone would say, okay, well, let's not send it today.
21:27Let's wait a couple days because we're conducting the review of that particular munition.
21:32So that's what happened here.
21:33And I think it was not appropriately reported initially.
21:37But nonetheless, you know, it's pretty clear now that review has occurred.
21:42And as the president's made clear, there's been no change to our posture with regards to providing what we have available.
21:48Now, I would remind everybody, again, I go back to the point I made.
21:51And that is that there are certain things that Ukraine needs, like Patriot batteries.
21:55Those are available.
21:56There are multiple countries in Europe that possess Patriot batteries that they could share with Ukraine.
22:01And we're actively, you know, talking to countries about doing that.
22:04Anyone specifically?
22:05Well, the Spaniards have one.
22:07They're really far from Ukraine and they have one.
22:09The Germans have.
22:10Others have.
22:11I'm not signaling them out, but I'm just telling you those are two that I know.
22:13There are other Patriot batteries.
22:15And there are other opportunities.
22:16Countries that have ordered Patriot batteries that are about to receive shipments of them.
22:22It would be great if one of them volunteered to defer that shipment and send it to Ukraine instead.
22:27So we're looking for creative ways to provide them these defensive weapons that they would need.
22:31Now, that's not going to help them with the drone attacks.
22:33That's a very different technique that you use in order to bring those down.
22:37But it would help them with some of these missile attacks that we're seeing.
22:40Again, these are defensive weapons.
22:42The reduction in force of the State Department.
22:45Is that something that we should expect to happen while you are traveling?
22:48Or is it something you want to be in Washington, D.C. while it happens?
22:52No, I mean, we've already notified that to Congress.
22:55Understand, our reduction in force was done, I'm very proud to say, I think.
23:00I would argue probably in the most deliberate way of anyone that's done one.
23:04We went very specifically through and reorganized the State Department.
23:08And when you reorganize the State Department, there were certain bureaus we wanted to empower the regional bureaus.
23:12And there were certain bureaus, these functional bureaus that were closed.
23:15And so it made sense to, so that's been notified to Congress and to the workforce for some period of time.
23:23And so we've been ready to implement it pending a court decision which now has been reached.
23:29There's some timing associated with how you do that, how you actually implement it.
23:33But, you know, our intent is to move forward the plans that we've notified Congress of weeks ago
23:38and that we took months to design.
23:40Will the numbers be the same as what was notified to Congress?
23:43Sure.
23:44I mean, our plan that we notified to Congress is what we intend to do.
23:47And then we'll have achieved our, again, the reduction of force is a consequence of the reorg.
23:52It's not a consequence of trying to get rid of people.
23:55But if you've closed the bureau, you don't need those positions.
23:57Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people.
24:01Some of them are unfilled positions, potentially, or positions that someone took early retirement.
24:07And therefore, are now about to be unfilled.
24:10So, but we took a very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and more focused.
24:15That's been publicly noticed to Congress months ago.
24:18We've been prepared to implement it.
24:20And the thing that slowed us down was a court decision by a district judge in the Northern District of California.
24:25The Supreme Court has ruled on that.
24:27And so we're prepared to act on it.
24:29It'll come as no surprise.
24:30And that is our reorg.
24:31That'll be the extent of what we intend to do.
24:34And we're already operating under the new organizational structure, as is for the most part.
24:39So this will further enhance that.
24:41Okay?
24:43Thank you, Secretary.
24:44You're looking forward to our hop, skip, and jump.
24:47Hello.
24:48Hello.
24:49Hello.
24:50Hello, everybody.
24:51Hello.
24:52Hello.
24:53Hello.
24:54Hi.
24:55Hello.
24:56Hello.
24:57And we're standing here at the front of our home.
24:59Hello.
25:00Hi.
25:01What?
25:02Here.
25:04Hello.
25:05Hello.
25:06Hello.
25:07Hello.