Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Cooper
12/08/2025
Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Cooper
12/08/2025 05:39 PM EST
Office of the Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Cooper
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Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Cooper
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December 8, 2025
The below is attributable to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met today with UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. The Secretary and the Foreign Secretary reaffirmed their commitment to ongoing cooperation to achieve a durable peace between Russia and Ukraine. The Secretary and Foreign Secretary also underscored their shared focus on advancing security, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East. In addition, they reaffirmed the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific based on the rule of law.
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Bilateral Relations and Engagement Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Office of the Spokesperson The Secretary of State United Kingdom
Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security DiNanno’s Travel to Hungary and Switzerland
12/11/2025
Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security DiNanno’s Travel to Hungary and Switzerland
12/11/2025 09:22 AM EST
Office of the Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security DiNanno’s Travel to Hungary and Switzerland
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Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security DiNanno’s Travel to Hungary and Switzerland
Media Note
December 11, 2025
The Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, Thomas G. DiNanno, will travel to Budapest, Hungary, and Geneva, Switzerland, from December 10 to 16, 2025.
While in Budapest, Under Secretary DiNanno will participate in a U.S.-Hungary Interagency Security Dialogue, where he will meet with senior Hungarian officials to advance bilateral cooperation on enhancing law enforcement coordination and information sharing.
In Geneva, the Under Secretary will participate in the UN’s Biological Weapons Convention’s Meeting of State Parties, including giving the keynote address at the U.S.-sponsored side event “Modern Tools for Modern Threats.” He will also meet with senior officials from a wide range of partner countries to discuss areas of mutual cooperation on disarmament and international security.
For media inquiries or additional information, please contact the T Outreach Office at T_Outreach_CT@state.gov.
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Arms Control Bilateral Relations and Engagement Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Disarmament Hungary Office of the Spokesperson Official International Travel Security and Defense Switzerland Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security
The Week at State: December 5 – December 11, 2025
12/12/2025
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December 5 – December 11
Here’s what happened at State this week. ⤵️🏅President Trump and Secretary Rubio celebrated American cultural excellence at the 48th Kennedy Center Honors.
The United States and Australia advanced joint security, economic, and technology objectives at the Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN).
🩺Secretary Rubio continued to lead our America First Global Health Strategy with multiple bilateral agreements across Africa.
Honoring American Excellence at the Kennedy Center Honors
CAPTION: Secretary Rubio hosts honorees, from left, back row: Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss of KISS, with interim Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell, and, from left, front row: Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Gloria Gaynor, and Michael Crawford at the 48th Kennedy Center Honors Medallion Reception at the Department of State in Washington on December 6. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)
On December 6, President Trump and Secretary Rubio celebrated the extraordinary honorees at the 48th Kennedy Center Honors, recognizing the best of American creativity and culture.
The event highlighted how cultural diplomacy strengthens America’s global leadership. By honoring the artists whose work inspires millions, the Trump Administration celebrates American innovation and cultural vitality.
"One of the great American exports is our culture and our talent," Secretary Rubio remarked during the dinner. “It inspires the world.”
AUSMIN 2025 Strengthens Our Alliance With Australia
Secretary Rubio delivers remarks with Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, at the Department of State in Washington on December 8 (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)
On December 8, the United States and Australia convened the Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN), led by Secretary Rubio, Secretary of War Hegseth, Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Marles, and Foreign Minister Wong.
"This is a very strong partnership. It’s a strong alliance, and what we want to do is continue to build on it," Secretary Rubio stated. Working together is “at the cornerstone of everything we plan to do together in the months and years to come."
Working together, the U.S. and Australia are investing in infrastructure, deepening our strategic alliance, and expanding cyber cooperation.
“The work we do together is indispensable to a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” said Foreign Minister Wong.
New Bilateral Health Memorandum Under America First Global Health Strategy
Senior Official Jeremy P. Lewin welcomed Liberian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sara Beysolow Nyanti to the State Department to sign a bilateral global health agreement. (State Dept.)
We are building our America First Global Health Strategy with bilateral memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with countries across Africa.
The United States signed MOUs with Rwanda, Liberia, Uganda, and Lesotho, building on the initial MOU with Kenya on December 4. These multiyear, country-led partnerships are designed to strengthen national health systems, improve disease surveillance, and advance global health security by moving partner nations toward long-term sustainability.
Under the MOUs, each country commits to increasing domestic health financing and assuming greater responsibility for its own health outcomes.
These agreements demonstrate how the strategy shifts U.S. global health engagement toward long-term partnerships that protect the American people, reinforce stability abroad, and reduce reliance on external funding over time.
Building on the Strong U.S.-Israel Relationship
Secretary Rubio meets with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar at the Department of State in Washington on December 10. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)
On December 10, Secretary Rubio and Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar discussed regional security and humanitarian efforts, including implementation of the President’s 20-Point Plan in Gaza.
They also discussed Syria and Lebanon, reaffirming their commitment to close collaboration in pursuit of peace and stability in the Middle East.
News You May Have MissedThe United States is sanctioning mercenary networks fueling conflict and instability in Sudan.
The International Contact Group for the Great Lakes issued a joint statement expressing profound concern over the escalation of violence in South Kivu.
The United States and the Republic of Korea hosted a senior economic dialogue to further align trade and investing.
The United States is offering a reward of up to $5 million for help arresting the leader of Foreign Terrorist Organization Los Choneros.
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December 25: Christmas
December 31: New Year’s Eve
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Virtual Press Briefing with Jacob Helberg, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs on AI Supply Chain Security
12/16/2025
Virtual Press Briefing with Jacob Helberg, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs on AI Supply Chain Security
12/16/2025 03:38 AM EST
Jacob Helberg, Under Secretary for Economic Affairs (E)
MODERATOR: Greetings from the U.S. Department of State’s Asia Pacific Media Hub. It’s my pleasure to welcome journalists to today’s on-the-record briefing. Today we’re honored to be joined by Jacob Helberg, Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, who will discuss the newly announced Pax Silica Initiative.
With that, let’s get started. Under Secretary Helberg, I’ll turn it over to you for opening remarks.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Thank you so much, Tim. So it’s great to speak with everyone. I’m excited to share a little bit more about Pax Silica, which is the first time that countries are organizing around compute, silica, and minerals and energy as a shared strategic asset. It was very exciting for me to sign the joint declaration with my colleagues from six other countries. We really see this as a watershed moment when allies got together in the midst of a global economy that is quickly reorganizing and undergoing the greatest reorganization since probably the invention of electricity. And ultimately, Pax Silica is about making sure that America and its partners build the rails of the 21st century.
And ultimately, as we said, as I said during my opening remarks during the Pax Silica Summit, if the 20th century ran on oil and steel, the 21st century is going to run on compute and minerals, and so we’re aligning our supply chains accordingly.
So I want to make sure that we answer a lot of questions that all of you have about the initiative. We’re very excited about it. And with that, I’m happy to take as many questions as people have.
MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, Mr. Under Secretary. Our first question goes to Min Zhang Lim from The Straits Times. Please go ahead and unmute yourself and go ahead with your question. Mr. Lim, are you on the call? You’ll need to unmute.
QUESTION: Hello?
MODERATOR: Yes, please go ahead.
QUESTION: Hi. Thank you, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. I’m from The Straits Times in Singapore. My question is, what does the U.S. expect of each of the allies and partners in the alliance, or the summit? What do you expect each country to contribute? And from Singapore’s perspective, it seems like it is a nonbinding kind of declaration. In your view, what is the level of commitment expected of each country, including Singapore? Thank you.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Sure. So the declaration that we signed was a series of high-level principles. So in the tech industry, we have this concept called first principles, which is really supposed to be the bedrock that anchors a lot of the downstream action that teams undertake together at most technology companies.
We decided to agree on a series of first principles that would ultimately anchor a lot of the work and the strategy that we undertake together in order to confront the supply chain and economic security challenges that we all face as a group. We have – I went – soon after being sworn in, I went on a seven-country tour, including across ASEAN and APEC for both summits in Asia. And a theme that stood out that I kept hearing over and over again is economic security is national security. And all of the countries and leaders I met ranked economic security as one of their top concerns. So it was very clear that they all felt the pressure from supply chains that were increasingly buckling under new geopolitical realities.
And the countries that we got together for Pax Silica – Japan, Korea, Australia, the UK, Singapore, and Israel – are all home to some of the most advanced technology ecosystems in the world. Singapore, as you know, has a very deep and rich semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. Israel is known as the – one of the world’s startup nations, with a very, very advanced technology ecosystem. Korea and Japan are major – are major manufacturers. They actually have very unique refining capabilities, and they have very advanced robotics ecosystems.
So these countries were all essential to the conversation. We’re very excited about this very creative coalition. Some people – some of the members of the press, I believe humorously, refer to this as a motley crew. And they’re right, it’s a very different combination of countries, but the reason is that we’re facing unique challenges and the times are new, and therefore, with new challenges and new times call for new coalitions that are uniquely tailored to the era of artificial intelligence. And so that’s exactly the kind of work that we undertook.
Ultimately, we’re going to be in very close contact with the key founding members of the Pax Silica Declaration, including Singapore. We are now shifting our attention to the implementation stage. And part of what that will entail will be the identification of having policy discussions on issues related to economic security as well as policy-level issues related to economic security and our respective policies and making sure that we are aligned as much as we can given our national circumstances. And then a second track will be focused on projects and investments and identifying areas where – and opportunities of co-investment as well as, potentially, joint ventures.
And so we’re going to have those discussions with our friends in Singapore over the weeks ahead, and I would anticipate some very exciting news in Q1 of next year.
MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. We’ll go to our next questioner, Albert Lee of Korea Pro – if you wouldn’t mind unmuting yourself and going ahead.
QUESTION: Hello, is this thing turned on?
MODERATOR: Yes. Go ahead, please.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Hi.
QUESTION: All right, okay. So I have a few questions. The first is, how does this relate to the rare earths access agreements signed with Australia and Malaysia in October? Are these – or rather, how do they – do these agreements relate with Pax Silica? Are they related or separate but kind of in the same neighborhood when it comes to creating secure supply chains for rare earths, semiconductors, and other technologies critical to AI?
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Yeah, so it – Australia is an essential part of the supply chain, because it is a minerals superpower. And ultimately, we want to look at the silicon supply chain holistically, including in energy, minerals, manufacturing, as well as semiconductors. And that’s why we included Australia, because Australia is essential to the mineral refining process needed in order to do silicon fabrication. They contribute – they were essential; we had a whole session entirely devoted to critical minerals that Australia was essential to.
And so ultimately, the work that’s being done on critical minerals is directly feeding Pax Silica efforts. So our critical mineral bilateral agreement opens the door to a lot of bilateral investments, which ultimately, through Pax Silica, will help secure a broader ecosystem of aligned economies. And so – and which is in our interest and it’s also in the interest of Australia. And so that’s exactly how we’re coordinating with them.
MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. Our next question goes to Chris Gorin of TaiwanPlus. Please unmute yourself and go ahead. Mr. Gorin, please go ahead.
QUESTION: Hello, can you hear me?
MODERATOR: Yes.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Yeah.
QUESTION: Okay. Under Secretary Helberg, thank you for taking my question. Last time you spoke with us, I believe it was the big earthquake in Taiwan, so I hope that this time is a little bit safer.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Thank you.
QUESTION: So I think a lot of people in Taiwan, when the press release about Pax Silica was released, were quite surprised that a group, which is ostensibly about AI and silicon supply chains, didn’t include Taiwan, which of course is the world’s major supplier of advanced AI chips; and not only that, but in the list of partner companies, TSMC was not listed, which not only makes most of those chips but also is the source of the largest foreign direct investment in U.S. history for its facilities in Arizona.
So I wanted to ask you, what are the criteria for being an official partner of Pax Silica, and is there a pathway for Taiwan to be brought in as a full participant? And then a second part to that question is that the – it did list Taiwan as giving guest contributions. So I wanted to ask what exactly were Taiwan’s contributions to the summit, and how does that differ from what full members might be contributing to the initiative? Thank you.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Sure. So let me just start by correcting misperceptions. Taiwan was at the table and was absolutely present in all of the sessions in which one would expect Taiwan to play an important role, including in the manufacturing session as well as the semiconductor session. Taiwan was there and made essential contributions.
We have a bilateral dialogue with Taiwan called the Economic and Prosperity Bilateral Dialogue that we are hosting early next year with our Taiwanese counterparts. We just had the first round – I think it was the day before – and so we didn’t see the need to replicate another process on top of a dialogue that was already in flight, where we’re already having a lot of very deep discussions. And ultimately, it’s because Taiwan is so essential to the supply chain that we viewed it critical to first be able to have this space and have a lot of the most important conversations on a bilateral basis before broadening a lot of the issue sets that we’re talking about in a bilateral – in a multilateral format.
But ultimately, for all of the reasons that you mentioned, Taiwan does have invaluable expertise to contribute. So we did extend an invitation, which they accepted. They attended and ultimately they contributed a great deal to the meeting.
What I would – what I would say is the other point that I would add about the meeting is we’re not – this – the declaration, one of the reasons why it’s so meaningful is it’s really not just a piece of paper, and we’re not just writing code, so to speak. We’re – the goal is to pour concrete, smelt steel, and rack servers, and ultimately build the physical backbone of the 21st century. And the goal is not to write a whitepaper. And so that’s why we – all of the work we do is entirely anchored around infrastructure projects. And so we want to ultimately maximize the platforms that we use towards the most likely outcomes of delivering infrastructure projects. And so that’s the basis for our entire approach.
The last point that I would add is this was a first meeting, and it is likely – there will likely be many more. The appetite and the reception of the meeting was just – had an enormous amount of enthusiasm and support. And so we’re still in the process of determining membership of new members. There are – we expect to announce several new additions to the declaration in Q1 of next year that are based on conversations that we’re already having. So I would just take a deep breath, give us a little bit of room to let sensitive conversations unfold on a bilateral basis, and in Q1 of next year we’re expecting to roll out several new members of the Pax Silica Declaration.
MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. And next question goes to James Mayger of Bloomberg News. Please unmute yourself and go ahead.
QUESTION: Sorry. Thank you for taking my question today. So one question I have is how you plan to balance each nation’s own national security industrial needs and necessities with the other members.’ How will you coordinate spending and development so that Japan and the U.S. aren’t competing against each other to get investment from TSMC, for example?
And specifically on rare earths, the U.S. announced a massive support package for MP Materials earlier this year, and it didn’t seem like there was much discussion with Australia before that even though Australia is doing a very similar thing, trying to support the domestic rare earth industry. Would you plan to coordinate better on those kind of industrial policy measures going forward as part of this broader effort? Thank you.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: So I think a lot of investments will ultimately be tethered to offtake agreements in order to avoid these types of zero-sum issues. With that being said – so just to expound a little bit on that thought, part of the idea is ultimately if investments are made in a smelter, it’s those investments that are deployed in conjunction with offtake agreements of the refined minerals or metals coming out of that smelter, which will ultimately make it easier for the private sector to decide which providers or vendors make the most sense for their business.
With that being said, I think I would be really hard-pressed – this – we should – I think we all understand that now is not the time for zero-sum thinking because right now 90 percent of the world’s rare earth minerals are controlled by a single player, which we all view as not being sustainable over the long term. And therefore any business activity that we – that we get currently, will ultimately not be – this isn’t about competing against each other. It’s about competing against the incumbent that actually occupies 90 percent of the market. And so it’s – there’s a lot, a lot of room for all of us to expand our own productive capacities before we actually get to a point where we’re competitive with each other. The only player with which we’re competing, with which we’re all competing with right now, is not Singapore, Korea, Japan, the UK, or Australia, or Israel. It’s someone else, and I think everyone understands who that is.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question goes to Kenneth Basilio of BusinessWorld in the Philippines. Please unmute yourself and go ahead.
QUESTION: Hello, Mr. Under Secretary. I’m joining the briefing from Manila, and there are a few questions that interest the Philippines. Firstly, the Philippines is not part of the Pax Silica Initiative. Why is this and are there any pathways for one to join the initiative, given its deep ties with the U.S. as well as its critical minerals and lower-end semiconductor position in the value chain?
Also, what investment opportunities might the U.S. and partners see for the Philippines in advancing the initiative? Thank you.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Sorry, do you mind repeating that last question? I couldn’t hear you.
QUESTION: What investment opportunities might the U.S. and its partners see for the Philippines in advancing the initiative?
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Yeah, absolutely. So I actually – I met with my Filipino counterpart – I think it was twice – and we view the Philippines as an essential and valued partner. We are very eager and look forward to engaging the Philippines on Pax Silica specifically. I have had several conversations with my Filipino counterparts on the issue of supply chain security and am incredibly excited by the enthusiasm that my counterpart showed at the idea of deepening supply chain security collaboration with the U.S.
So again, this first meeting is the starting point. It’s not an end point. We do plan to add more players and partners to this effort. Ultimately, there are a lot of partners that are needed around this discussion. Especially when it comes to manufacturing in minerals, the universe of partners is larger than this initial set of seven or eight countries, and so we do plan to reach out to the Philippines on this. I have already spoken with them around supply chain security issues and have had very positive exchanges with them and am very optimistic that we – through discussions with my counterparts we will find a path for them to join in an expeditious way. Ultimately, I plan to extend an invitation to my counterpart to Washington in the first half of next year in order to be able to resume these discussions face to face, and we are very confident that they’re going to be very fruitful exchanges.
MODERATOR: Thank you. We have time for one more question, and it will go to Stu Woo of The Wall Street Journal. Please unmute yourself and go ahead.
QUESTION: Hey, Under Secretary. Thanks for doing this. I wanted to get your sense of where the U.S. stood with China in the AI rivalry, but I wanted to decode it in a way that an American audience could understand. So I wanted to ask you: If this rivalry were an NFL game and this is halftime, what do you think the score is and why?
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: So I’m not going to build off of the football analogy, but I will say this, that our strategy is to create a competitive edge so steep, so insurmountable that no adversary or competitor can scale it. That’s why our goal is to make America the arsenal of AI in this century. We are adopting a strategy to – that has attracted hundreds of billions of dollars in investment in the United States. As a country we’re experiencing the largest industrial buildout in over 150 years, since the first Industrial Revolution. We are moving at lightning speed to forge trade deals, which is leading to a historic decrease in our overall trade deficit, which matters a lot for reindustrialization.
And we’re now creating the kind of coalition that we need in order to meaningfully make progress on supply chains with countries that have true technology ecosystems, unique capabilities to bring to bear, and we’ve been able to forge a new consensus. I’m sure you’ll remember, since you’re with The Wall Street Journal, back in the day 25 years ago people used to talk about the Washington Consensus. Today we are seeing a new – a true new consensus that is being born out of Washington and has spread throughout the world that is embraced, which is that economic policy flows from national security. We need to have an economic policy that is tethered to the – to national security realities, and ultimately, everyone understands that the countries that lead in AI and in technology will have the larger economy and the stronger military. And that’s why we are totally committed as the U.S. and as a group, as a Pax Silica group, in order to make sure that we build the rails of the 21st century.
MODERATOR: Thank you, Mr. Under Secretary. Now I’ll turn it back to you if you have any closing remarks before we wrap up.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: I want to express my appreciation for everyone’s time. I want to say that for us, Pax Silica and economic security is not a line item, it’s a prerequisite for national survival. And ultimately, the era of free trade surrender is over. The era of American industrial revival is now underway, and the efforts being undertaken by this administration demonstrates that every single week.
MODERATOR: Thank you so much, Mr. Under Secretary. Thank you all for joining us. We’ll provide a transcript of today’s briefing to journalists as soon as it is available. If you have any feedback or further questions, please feel free to contact us at AsiaPacMedia@state.gov. Thank you again, and we hope you can join us for another briefing soon. Take care.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Thank you.
# # #
Digital Press Briefing: Senior Advisor for the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) Samuel Samson
12/17/2025
Digital Press Briefing: Senior Advisor for the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) Samuel Samson
12/17/2025 05:55 AM EST
The Brussels Hub
MODERATOR: All right. Good after – or good morning, rather, from the State Department’s European Regional Media Center, or the Brussels Hub. I’d like to welcome everyone joining us for today’s virtual press briefing. Today we are very happy to welcome Samuel Samson, senior advisor for the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
We – so we’ll begin with that, but first I’m going to pass it over to Samuel Samson to tell us a little bit about the trip and how things have been going. Thank you so much.
MR SAMSON: Thank you. It’s – can everyone hear me? I just wanted to check with State colleagues. I know I’m calling in from my phone, so —
MODERATOR: Sounds good.
MR SAMSON: Perfect. Well, thank you for being here, everyone. I’m calling from Budapest right before I fly out. So it’s been a very busy, very productive extended trip here through Central Europe. So I’ll just give – I’ll be brief because I know we want to get to questions, but I’m just wrapping up a trip through a bunch of key Central European countries that we view as very key partners of the United States and the administration, namely the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, and then here in Hungary.
The purpose of this trip is multifaceted. The preliminary objective is to work with countries that we know are very close partners of the United States and deeply committed to our shared values of democracy, self-government, free speech, national sovereignty, and more on key issues that we see – building on the National Security Strategy, building on the Vice President’s speech from February at the Munich Security Conference – regarding concerns that we see in Europe and across the West more broadly regarding these key fundamental Western virtues and values. And we are hoping to kind of work with key partners on ensuring that those values are shored up and supported against what we are seeing as the democratic backsliding of many governments in Europe, including the European Union, when it comes to key issues like free speech and national sovereignty.
So we’ve been working with our like-minded allies on those issues with different governments, political parties, civil society groups, as is in the custom of DRL to do. The countries of Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary are key players as part of our broader engagement to build a strong and sovereign and democratic Europe. We see them as key players economically that we want to build out our partnerships with geopolitically as well and, of course, when it comes to preserving our common Western heritage.
I also met extensively with civil society partners, particularly civil society partners that have historically been ignored by the international human rights establishment largely because they present what I see to be very common-sense views on the family and supporting the family, defending national sovereignty and borders, promoting human rights and the sanctity of life. So we wanted to make sure that we are being more uniform and objective about the civil society groups that we meet with for reporting purposes and also for collaboration purposes, when getting – becoming aware of the different human rights abuses around the world, wanting to make sure that we move away from the partisan and ideological NGOs that have historically been unilaterally engaged with.
And then lastly, I’ll just make one small note. I also had a public-facing event here in Budapest sponsored by the Hungarian Institute for International Affairs on – and it was a keynote and panel discussion – on the importance of natural rights and the shift to natural rights and away from kind of an ideologized and selective, partisan conception of human rights that attempts to engage in progressive social engineering to impose a kind of top-down government ideological view of human rights onto the rest of the world, and why it’s important – especially if we’re going to be self-governing Western democracies – to ground our human rights work in objective concepts of human dignity, of national sovereignty, of human nature, of virtue and goodness.
And so we had an incredible panel discussion with interlocutors here in Hungary, and we hope that it’s the beginning of a much more fruitful partnership to defend the values without which democracy and self-governance are impossible. And so happy to talk about that as well, but I’ll leave it there for time’s sake.
MODERATOR: Okay, thank you very much. So Senior Advisor, maybe you could just mention the countries you were in on this trip and anything specific you want to say to those visits, and then we’ll take our first question.
MR SAMSON: Yeah, great. Maybe we can get into it more because I know we’re short on time, but again, I was in the Czech Republic, I was in Slovakia, I was in Austria, and I was in Hungary, and we were in the capitals of all those countries, so Prague, Bratislava, Vienna, and then Budapest.
Obviously, there are specific issues that we’re dealing with in each of those countries. I was very fortunate to be in Prague when the new government kind of came into power with Andrej Babiš. We’re very excited to work with the Babiš government. We’re very optimistic about their work on key issues of sovereignty and human rights and preserving democracy against kind of existential threats in Europe that are seeking to undermine those values. So we’re very excited to work with them. We had very positive, constructive meetings with the Czech Government.
Likewise with the Slovakians and Prime Minister Fico – met with that government and other civil society groups as well in Bratislava. We’re very encouraged and look forward to collaborating with them.
Same with Vienna, and we met with various interlocutors, parties there who are also standing for those values. And then obviously in Budapest, too, with the Hungarian Government, which especially after Prime Minister Orban’s visit to the White House in November, kind of building out more and substantiating more of the due-outs from that excellent meeting, and reaffirming the excellent kind of golden age of U.S.-Hungary relations that we see moving forward with our partners, particularly on these core civilizational issues.
I will say there was a lot of agreement, obviously. We – all of these countries kind of understand the grounding first principles of freedom and democracy that – and the fact that these are under attack throughout the West, whether that be through mass migration, censorship, kind of pernicious, overburdening, and extraterritorial regulations like the Digital Services Act. Everyone very much was on the same page, which was very refreshing, that it’s one thing to identify the problem – it’s another thing to find constructive solutions and work together as partners. And we made a lot of progress towards that on this trip.
MODERATOR: So talking about solutions and what’s seen as successful or not, we do – we have a question from the chat which is asking whether or not the Trump Administration or the way you’ve been looking at things sees the Hungarian Government as a role model in terms of how they’re approaching things.
MR SAMSON: In a sense. We – what we’re very grateful for about the Hungarian Government – and this leads to easy collaboration as well as very good and constructive, frank conversations where we disagree – is that they understand that the primary role of a government is to defend the interests of that nation and of its people. That’s kind of a foundational premise of democratic self-governance. And so when we look at the Hungarians, we see that they’re acting in the interests of the Hungarian people. We see that – we hope that they see – and I think they do understand based on my very constructive meetings with them over the past few days – that we are doing the same under President Trump and that we’re going to pursue a foreign policy that pursues the interests of the American people and American safety and security. And so that’s very easy to lay as a foundation for a strong bilateral relationship.
And so in a way, the conversations with the Hungarians were much easier, and I say that in a positive sense because kind of the foundational first principles were understood. And we hope that would be the case with any democratic country in Europe. But so we’re definitely grateful for a lot of the positive work that the Hungarian Government has done on things like family policy and supporting the importance of the family to civil life. We’re supportive of their efforts to support President Trump in our peace with – in peace with Ukraine. European leaders have been hesitant to get on board with that, but we see the Hungarians as a key partner in pursuing peace, as President Trump has said time and time again, and we’re very optimistic about that work going forward, as well as their work to combat things like censorship, interference with the fair electoral process, and also mass migration that we’re seeing throughout Europe. And so definitely very positive meetings with the Hungarian Government.
MODERATOR: And we have another question. So I believe you had mentioned earlier talking about ideology and different ideological approaches, and so we have a question just asking about where Christianity fits into that and if that’s perceived as an ideology in that sense.
MR SAMSON: No, I think one of the objectives – and I said this during the event at the Hungarian Institute – is that what we’re trying to do is kind of get back to basic common-sense principles that are necessary for democratic self-governance. There’s a lot of questions about, oh, are natural rights a theologically loaded term, does it presuppose a Christian worldview, are you talking about human rights, how do they relate to human rights, are they the same thing, are they different. We chose the term “natural rights” to emphasize that rights need to be grounded not in the shifting will of the state, not in the dictates of government, but in human nature that is objective.
And so if you don’t ground rights, if you don’t ground virtue in some sort of objective meaning, if there isn’t an objective good, then what inevitably happens is it becomes kind of a will-to-power reduction where, well, the Trump Administration says that human rights are A, B, and C, but maybe a left-wing government says that human rights are X, Y, and Z. And inevitably, you just get into this ping-pong back and forth about whose definition of rights is correct, and inevitably, that just leads to kind of a tyrannical imposition from the top down, which we’re seeing in the case of Europe and some of these international institutions that are trying to impose a very ideological view of rights that kind of threatens things like religious liberty for Christians and other people of faith, that threatens elections and democratic self-governance. They try to impose this worldview on top of the sovereign will of the people.
And so that, we think, in part comes from this lack of grounding in sort of fundamental first principles. And so the purpose of kind of a natural rights framework is to remind us that our rights are grounded in nature, in our inherent dignity as human beings made in the image of God. Obviously, those principles are taught in Christianity, they’re also taught in Judaism, but we think that they’re apparent by reason. America’s founding documents say that these truths are self-evident, and we want to reaffirm that truth that our founders recognized.
MODERATOR: All right. And related to that, there’s a question concerning what came up in discussions – if you’re able to talk about – regarding the European Union and its policies and how, specifically, the United States plans to respond to what you and others have brought up in the administration concerning censorship and free speech issues.
MR SAMSON: Right. I think there’s a growing consensus – and certainly in the countries that I visited – about the encroachments of bureaucrats in Brussels. And I do want to make a distinction between citizens of European Union member-states, even perhaps governments of those member-states, and even the founding premises of the European Union that were good and noble and are attempting to pursue some real good, and kind of this unelected, unaccountable bureaucratic class that is ideological in nature – namely of a very progressive, radical progressive ideology – that are attempting to impose that ideology over and on top of well-meaning democratic institutions. So that understanding was very much understood throughout our meetings.
And so our hope is that we can get back to the foundational principles of the European Union, of European member-states, that we hope are just as keen on defending democratic choice as we are. The National Security Strategy, which I’m sure many of you have read, came up quite a bit, as you can – as you can imagine. There’s a lot of narratives going on throughout Europe, particularly from these kind of ideological partisan sources that say that this is an attempt to distance from the European Union.
This could be nothing further from the truth. If anything, I would say that the National Security Strategy and our approach to Europe is extremely pro-Europe. It might be the most pro-Europe strategy that’s come out of any U.S. administration. And that’s because we really do believe in pursuing a strong Europe, a sovereign Europe, a prosperous Europe, a Europe that’s at peace, which is first and foremost given the current situation. And so I want to impress that on our European friends that the Trump Administration loves Europe, we care about Europe, we care about Europe’s leaders, and we want to be helpful to them as our civilizational allies. And so that’s the intention there.
MODERATOR: So turning to the National Security Strategy, we’ve had a couple of questions on that. One of them is asking how the U.S. will work actively with opposition parties in Europe, as I guess that is provided for in the National Security Strategy.
MR SAMSON: Right, yeah. And on that point, it’s very interesting. I want to get away from this narrative that is completely false that we are only working with certain parties or ignoring other parties. That couldn’t be further from the truth. We are noticing – and we note in the National Security Strategy – a very positive trend in political parties that are beginning to recognize the existential threats to the West that have grown in Europe, whether that be a rising regulatory apparatus that stifles economic growth, whether that’s the rise of censorship tactics to obstruct the democratic process, whether that’s the opening of borders without regard to the basic human rights of people in – local citizens in their member-state countries, whether it’s the lack of regard for a peace process in Ukraine and the furtherance of a war that would be unproductive and lead to further strife on the European continent.
We’re grateful to see that there are parties that are beginning to recognize these major problems and are willing to work on those issues. We’re not here to impose or to play favorites, as some people have characterized us doing. We want to work with anybody who is willing to stand for a sovereign Europe and a strong Europe, and we find the movement of parties across the political spectrum towards those common-sense solutions to be a constructive thing. And so we’re going to continue working with everyone, whether it’s governments in power, parties out of power, and everyone in between, to pursue our common interests.
MODERATOR: So we’ve had some particular interest in Austria and I guess questions about any main concerns or specific issues to Austria that were brought up, or if you’re able to talk about any of the people you met with.
MR SAMSON: Right, I’ll keep the contents of the meetings to ourselves just out of respect for our interlocutors. But we see Austria as a major partner. We met with all kinds of different representatives of the current government, members of multiple different political parties. And the first order of business was both to kind of – was first to reaffirm our commitment to Austria and our strong partnership with Austria economically, geopolitically, and also from a values perspective; but also to begin collaborating with likeminded individuals on these key issues of censorship and civilizational decline. And we found there to be a lot of great partners in Austria, people who definitely see similar concerns to us, and it was very productive.
As far as particular issues, obviously migration is a point of big concern for us, particularly the human rights implications of mass migration, the rise of sexual assaults on women and girls in migrant-affected countries, human trafficking of migrants themselves, the displacement of local populations and economic impacts of mass migration, just to name a few.
But let me be very clear, these are human rights issues, these are human rights concerns, and that’s something that our State Department under Secretary Rubio is definitely trying to emphasize to our European partners.
Austria, that’s definitely a point of concern; also broader concerns with things like censorship in the DSA, including the ability of partisan trusted flaggers from other countries to come in and impose censorship or attempt to censor speech in Austria and that extraterritorial concept. So all of those things came up in conversations and we think we had some very constructive movements.
MODERATOR: Okay. So we also have a lot of interest in Hungary. Is there anything you’d be able to say similarly about Hungary for the Hungarian journalists and others on the line?
MR SAMSON: Sure. Obviously, there’s a lot going on in Hungary. We definitely see Hungary as a leader in the European space, particularly in defending our core civilizational values. We were very pleased with the meeting between Prime Minister Orban and President Trump last month, and there is a lot to do coming out of it. I actually – if only I had more time in Budapest, because it became very clear that there was just so much work to do. We were very happy about the LNG deal that was signed with Hungary yesterday.
The idea of energy diversification, a kind of building out, less dependence on Russian energy and things like that was welcome, and we’re really excited that the Hungarians are working hand-in-hand with us on that; also as key partners on civilizational questions and things like, how can we mitigate the rise of mass migration and stop the egregious actions to impose those types of human rights abuses on the European continent? How can we work on that together? How can we work on ending the censorship apparatus?
And then, obviously, Hungary has an election coming up, and so we’re watching it very closely. We want to see a free and fair election. We want to make sure that any candidates and voices are heard, that news is conveyed objectively. We do have very particular concerns about the ways that certain partisan activists – NGOs – are going to attempt to undermine the very constructive progress that has been made with the Hungarians on core issues of family and protecting Western civilization. So we just wanted to work together to make sure that the integrity of the democratic process was preserved, and we’re very excited to continue our collaboration as we go into a very important year for the Hungarians.
MODERATOR: Okay. And we also had a question about civil society. So both how civil society might fit into all of these goals, but also specifically if you were connected with any civil society representatives in Austria.
MR SAMSON: Yeah, so I won’t go to the particular countries just because it’s part of a broader thesis. We did meet with many, many different civil society groups. It’s nothing new that the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and the State Department meet with civil society. Civil society is a core part of a functioning and flourishing democracy. Often civil society, who are doing kind of the groundwork on core human rights issues, are who we depend on for data and stories and cases that we can raise and elevate. So having a strong connection between the U.S. Government and civil society on the ground is very important. And so we’re – in that spirit, we’re continuing to do that work in central Europe.
I think what’s a little bit different this time is that, historically, I think – and I think our administration’s been very clear about this – it’s kind of been ideologically monolithic the way that civil society has been engaged with. There are many civil society groups in Europe and throughout the West particularly that masquerade as pro-democracy groups or pro-freedom groups when actually they’re engaging in what I call progressive social engineering, or kind of partisan activism, trying to promote different progressive – radical progressive concepts like open borders, gender theory, DEI, et cetera. And so we definitely wanted to broaden the aperture, or open the aperture, of different groups that we meet with who are doing very good, important work on defending fundamental values, defending family values, defending religious liberty, combating antisemitism, defending free speech and other core, foundational values that make our civilization great.
And so we had many of those different meetings. We learned a lot from these different groups that had, frankly, been previously ignored. They brought up a lot of different concerns with religious liberty, with mass migration, with other human rights issues that will be very helpful for us in our continued work. We hope to build those partnerships in the future and build a kind of very strong line of communication between us and these civil society groups. And we’re very excited to have these new and exciting partners.
MODERATOR: All right, thank you very much for that. So we’re coming to the end of our time today. So first, thank you, everyone, for your questions. I know we didn’t get to all of them. And thank you to Senior Advisor Samson for joining us. Before we close the call, I just – I’m going to give Senior Advisor Samson an opportunity for any final remarks looking at all of it together, and after that I’ll just give a little bit of information about what – how things proceed after the call.
MR SAMSON: Yeah, great. And I’ll – maybe I can kind of emphasize some of the points that I made during the remarks at the Hungarian Institute, because I think they kind of represent or summarize the broader thesis of the trip and then kind of what we’re hoping to do.
To repeat – and I think the National Security Strategy emphasizes this very eloquently – the United States cares about a strong Europe, a prosperous Europe, a sovereign Europe. And we have shared a long and storied history with European states, and even the European Union, working together to advance shared goals of democracy, self-government, freedom, and even virtue.
And so when we see those foundational values that are necessary, those first principles that I was talking about before, under attack by people who want to dismiss ideas of free electoral choice who are engaging in censorship; when we see people who are rejecting the concept of national sovereignty, advocating for open borders; when we see people telling us that faith is foolish or that patriotism is extremist or dangerous – that’s a real concern to us because what that means is that the very foundations of our transatlantic alliance are attempting to be undermined by partisan ideologues.
And so we’re not here to say this party or this ideology. I think it’s a very apolitical attempt to help our European friends and work collaboratively to ensure that democratic self-governance remains a priority of the transatlantic relationship, and from that, from a strong Europe, a sovereign Europe, a prosperous Europe, our relationship can be strengthened and we can have a firm foundation built that allows us to combat the greatest challenges that the world is seeing today, whether that be a rising threat from China, whether that’s economic stagnation, whether that’s mass migration.
We think that a strong Europe equals a strong partnership with the United States. We want to help with that. We want to support efforts by governments across Europe to achieve those goals and work collaboratively on those and other policy issues. But we definitely see this as a foundation of what we’re trying to do in Europe. And so as much as possible, we want – we’re here and ready to engage with our European partners to shore up these foundational values, and because without them the transatlantic relationship becomes a lot more fraught. We’re very grateful, again, to our interlocutors, the governments specifically in the countries that I visited – the Czech Government, the Slovak Government, the Austrian Government, and of course the Hungarian Government – who very much understand the existential crisis that is facing the West.
Increasingly we see more and more people in Europe – I’m coming to see this as well, and my message to them is that the Trump Administration is very, very grateful. We’re grateful for our long and historic partnership, and we hope that that continues. We want it to grow and prosper. And so this is just the – still very much the beginning of what we hope is a very constructive and positive friendship that has both economic benefits, also geopolitical benefits, but especially kind of civilizational benefits and Western civilization can continue to be this incredible manifestation of freedom and virtue and wellbeing for everybody for a long time to come.
So I think that’s where I’ll leave it, but this is just the beginning of the conversation, I hope.
MODERATOR: All right. Thank you very much for those remarks. So the way it proceeds from here is shortly we’ll send out the audio recordings of the briefing to all the participating journalists and provide a transcript as soon as it’s available. We’re also always happy to hear feedback from the people who participated. That can be sent to TheBrusselsHub@state.gov. Again, TheBrusselsHub@state.gov. So thank you again for your participation. Thank you for the journalists for joining. And for those who are interested, please follow us for more of these briefings soon at the Brussels Hub. That ends the briefing for today. All right, have a good trip. Bye-bye.
United States Hosts First G20 Sherpa Meeting
12/18/2025
United States Hosts First G20 Sherpa Meeting
12/18/2025 09:26 AM EST
Office of the Spokesperson
United States Hosts First G20 Sherpa Meeting
Media Note
December 18, 2025
From December 15-16, the United States convened a successful G20 Sherpa meeting in Washington, attended by representatives from the African Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom. Poland also attended as the only full guest participant of the U.S. host year.
On December 1, the United States assumed the G20 2026 Presidency, which coincides with America’s 250th birthday. Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States is committed to returning the G20 back to its core economic agenda and delivering real economic results. President Trump will host the G20 Leaders’ Summit from December 14-15, 2026, at Trump National Doral Miami.
At the first event of the U.S. G20 presidency, the United States reiterated its core thematic priorities: unleashing economic prosperity by limiting regulatory burdens, unlocking reliable and affordable energy options, and pioneering new innovative technologies. The United States launched working groups to develop concrete deliverables for each of these themes, and also launched an additional working group to identify areas of consensus on trade issues. The four working groups of the U.S. host year focus on key economic issues worthy of discussion by world leaders.
For further information, please follow @g20org on X, Facebook, and Instagram.
Sanctioning ICC Judges Directly Engaged in the Illegitimate Targeting of Israel
12/18/2025
Sanctioning ICC Judges Directly Engaged in the Illegitimate Targeting of Israel
12/18/2025 10:18 AM EST
Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
Sanctioning ICC Judges Directly Engaged in the Illegitimate Targeting of Israel
Press Statement
December 18, 2025
Today, I am designating two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges, Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia, pursuant to Executive Order 14203, “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court.” These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent, including voting with the majority in favor of the ICC’s ruling against Israel’s appeal on December 15.
The ICC has continued to engage in politicized actions targeting Israel, which set a dangerous precedent for all nations. We will not tolerate ICC abuses of power that violate the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and wrongly subject U.S. and Israeli persons to the ICC’s jurisdiction.
Our message to the Court has been clear: the United States and Israel are not party to the Rome Statute and therefore reject the ICC’s jurisdiction. We will continue to respond with significant and tangible consequences to the ICC’s lawfare and overreach.
All targets are being designated pursuant to section 1(a)(ii)(A) of Executive Order (E.O.) 14203.
Joint Statement from Troika Capitals on South Sudan
12/18/2025
Joint Statement from Troika Capitals on South Sudan
12/18/2025 11:33 AM EST
Office of the Spokesperson
Joint Statement from Troika Capitals on South Sudan
Media Note
December 18, 2025
The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Norway.
Begin text.
When the Revitalized Agreement for the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was signed just over seven years ago, it was hoped that it would bring peace after the country’s initial years of independence were scarred by conflict, including brutal violence against civilians.
Despite the support of the international community, the optimism and relief that followed the R-ARCSS was undeserved. Under the terms of the R-ARCSS, President Kiir should be leading a transitional government of national unity. It does not live up to the name, with the principles of power sharing violated and no meaningful progress towards implementing the agreement. Public resources continue to be misused: public servant salaries are going unpaid and international donors are spending significantly more on delivering basic services to the people of South Sudan than the transitional government is itself. At independence, South Sudan’s oil revenue made it a middle-income country. It is now the world’s poorest, and its most corrupt. The leadership is continuing with destabilizing unilateral reshuffles, rather than focusing on governing the country or preparing for elections.
Most seriously, we have seen a return to widespread conflict across the country. It would be tragic for the people of South Sudan if we see a return to the levels of violence of 2013 and 2016. It would also represent a serious setback for South Sudan’s neighbors, already suffering the destabilizing influence of the conflict in Sudan.
For the good of the people of South Sudan and for the sake of regional stability, South Sudan’s leaders must urgently reverse course. All parties, especially the SPLM-IG and SPLM-IO, must stop armed attacks and immediately return to the nationwide ceasefire and to sustained leader-level dialogue. The transitional government must end its aerial attacks against its own citizens; release political prisoners; use public revenue to pay public sector employees; and fund health, education, and other essential services for its citizens.
Transitional government officials at all levels must also cease interfering in the operations of humanitarian assistance providers and regional and international organizations. The transitional government’s obstruction of departure as well as in-country movements of UN peacekeepers is a prime example of this behavior and must stop immediately.
All South Sudan’s friends and partners, and especially those neighboring South Sudan who have the most to lose from the prospect of renewed large-scale conflict, should be united in their messaging – that enough is enough. South Sudan’s leaders must stop the current conflict and focus on restoring the trust of its people and the international community through concrete actions. If they do so, they will attract the world’s support, investment, and respect.
End text.
The Week at State: December 12 – December 19, 2025
12/19/2025
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December 12 – December 19
The United States will continue to stand with our allies and partners while protecting American interests.
Here’s what happened at State this week. ⤵️🕊️President Trump addressed the nation, highlighting his work restoring American strength and achieving peace in the Middle East.
🇺🇲 Secretary Rubio held an end-of-year briefing where he discussed global issues and American priorities.
🇦🇺The U.S. expressed unwavering solidarity with Australia following recent attacks, reaffirming the unshakeable bond between our nations.
Restoring American Strength
President Trump addresses the nation Wednesday, December 17, 2025, from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. (Official White House photo by Daniel Torok)
In an address to the nation on December 17, President Trump highlighted his success in strengthening American trade and securing peace deals around the world. The President detailed a record of decisive action that has established the United States as the world’s preeminent power.
"I’ve restored American strength, settled eight wars in 10 months, destroyed the Iran nuclear threat, and ended the war in Gaza," President Trump stated. Highlighting the return of American captives from Hamas, he noted the Administration has "secured the release of the hostages, both living and dead," bringing a new era of stability to the Middle East for the first time in millennia.
End-of-Year Briefing
Secretary Rubio delivers remarks to the press at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., December 19, 2025. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)
On December 19, Secretary Rubio gave a year-end press briefing where he answered wide-ranging questions about foreign policy issues, outlined America's security priorities, and highlighted the Administration's wins for the American people.
Secretary Rubio emphasized that the Department’s primary mission remains the decisive implementation of the "America First" agenda.
"The core principle behind our foreign policy needs to be our national interests," Secretary Rubio told reporters. "We are in favor of foreign policies that will make America safer, or stronger, or more prosperous — hopefully all three, but at least one of those."
During the hours-long press conference, Secretary Rubio discussed the Administration's efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine, its progress on building lasting stability in the Middle East, and the steps America is taking to protect its citizens from narco-traffickers in the Western Hemisphere.
Watch the whole briefing.
Security Cooperation in the Americas
Secretary Rubio meets with Paraguayan Foreign Minister Ramírez Lezcano at the Department of State in Washington, D.C., to sign a Status of Forces Agreement. (Official State Department photo by Freddie Everett)
On December 15, Secretary Rubio signed a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Paraguay’s Foreign Minister Rubén Ramirez. This agreement provides the legal framework for enhanced military-to-military cooperation and joint training exercises.
"This agreement is a testament to the strengthening of our bilateral relationship," Secretary Rubio remarked. "Paraguay is a key partner in the region, and this SOFA will allow our two nations to work more closely together to address shared security challenges and promote regional stability."
President Trump Responds to Attacks in Australia
President Trump participates in a Hanukkah reception at the White House on Tuesday, December 16, 2025. (Official White House photo by Molly Riley)
President Trump and Secretary Rubio reached out to the people of Australia to express their sincere condolences and enduring solidarity in the aftermath of deadly attacks targeting a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach.
“We’re joined in mourning all those who were killed,” President Trump said. “All nations must stand against the evil forces of radical Islamic terrorism.”
In a call with Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Secretary Rubio condemned the violence and reaffirmed that the U.S. stands shoulder to shoulder with Australia.
“No community should have to fear publicly celebrating their faith and traditions due to the threat of extremist violence and terror,” Secretary Rubio said.
Counter-Drug Briefing on Capitol Hill
On December 16, Secretary Rubio briefed members of Congress on the Department’s latest counter-drug operations. "It's our 22nd or 23rd bipartisan engagement," Secretary Rubio told reporters.
The briefing focused on the Administration’s successful efforts to disrupt the flow of illicit narcotics before they reach U.S. borders.
"[We're] focused on dismantling the infrastructure of these terrorist organizations that are operating in our hemisphere [and]... poisoning Americans," Secretary Rubio said.
The United States Further Restricts Entry of Foreign Nationals
On December 16, the White House announced an entry ban on nationals from seven countries: Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria. Per a White House fact sheet, suspended entry also applies to individuals using travel documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority. The announcement cited insufficient vetting in the countries of origin, as noted in Proclamation 10949.
These new restrictions add to the entry prohibitions already applied to 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
News You May Have MissedThe United States signed a bilateral health Memorandum of Understanding with Cameroon to advance global health security under the America First Global Health Strategy.
We designated Clan del Golfo as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, cutting off their access to the global financial system and making it a crime to provide them with any support.
Secretary Rubio called for China to release Jimmy Lai, a free speech advocate from Hong Kong, on humanitarian grounds.
Quad partners (Australia, India, Japan, and the United States) concluded a field training exercise to support logistical cooperation and efficient disaster response in the Indo-Pacific.
Secretary Rubio sanctioned two International Criminal Court judges directly engaged in politicized and illegitimate actions against Israel.
The U.S. is acting to stem the flow of the Iranian regime’s revenue used to support terrorism and other illicit activities.
Secretary Rubio met with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Al Thani, launching the seventh U.S.-Qatar Strategic Dialogue to deepen cooperation on shared economic and security goals.
Upcoming DatesDecember 25: Christmas
December 31: New Year’s Eve
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