Secretary Rubio’s Call with Dutch Foreign Minister van Weel
01/05/2026
Secretary Rubio’s Call with Dutch Foreign Minister van Weel
01/05/2026 12:21 PM EST
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HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Secretary Rubio’s Call with Dutch Foreign Minister van Weel
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Secretary Rubio’s Call with Dutch Foreign Minister van Weel
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January 5, 2026
The below is attributable to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke today with Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel. The two leaders discussed the United States’ counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean and the need to ensure a proper, judicious transition of power in Venezuela. Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister van Weel reaffirmed the close cooperation between the United States and the Netherlands.
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Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Netherlands Office of the Spokesperson The Secretary of State Venezuela
Digital Press Briefing: Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg
01/05/2026
Digital Press Briefing: Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg
01/05/2026 02:16 PM EST
Jacob Helberg, Under Secretary for Economic Affairs (E)
The Brussels Hub
MODERATOR: All right, so greetings from the Brussels Hub here. Today is January 5th, and we have a briefing with the Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Jacob Helberg. So good afternoon from here at the Brussels Hub, and thank you for joining us.
Finally, a reminder that today’s briefing is on the record. With that, let’s get started. Under Secretary Helberg, thank you so much for joining us today. I’ll turn it over to you for your opening remarks.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Thank you so much, Ian, and it’s great to be joining everyone today for a quick overview and a discussion about – that is going to focus on a recap of what the Economic Secretariat at the State Department accomplished in 2025, and maybe provide a little bit of color on what we’re planning for 2026 as we plot out the year ahead.
Late last year, in December, we signed a historic economic security declaration known as Pax Silica that brought together Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Israel, Australia, the UK, and obviously the United States, with the participation of the Netherlands, the UAE, and Taiwan. And these are a group of high-performing countries covering critical nodes of the AI economy. Japan, as you know, is home to advanced manufacturing. South Korea is a global semiconductor fabrication – Singapore is the world’s preeminent logistics hub. Israel has been at the top of – the tip of the spear in cybersecurity and frontier technologies as well as chip design. Australia is a critical, essential partner for critical minerals, and a country with which the U.S. has signed a bilateral critical minerals deal. And the UK has been home to world-leading AI research and is the birthplace of companies like DeepMind.
Ultimately, this matters because we are seeing a global realignment of economic policy to reflect more accurately national security realities. And this declaration reflects a new growing consensus between the United States and its closest partners that economic security is national security and national security is economic security. And so our governments can no longer afford to develop economic policy in a manner that is untethered from national security.
So we are setting the stage for 2026 in order to hit the ground running with cooperation across minerals, fabrication, and compute clusters to bring a full-stack approach to AI power. We are planning to develop investment pipelines for mineral projects, expanded fab capacity, and next-generation computing centers, and to ultimately develop a coordinated framework that reduces single points of failure and prevents coercive dependencies in strategic supply chains.
Ultimately, we are hoping to work with our partners to build a vision defined by technological leadership and economic opportunity, not bottlenecks or strategic vulnerabilities. And so we’re incredibly excited to be – to spend more time this year engaging with our European partners to discuss areas of convergence, especially on economic security.
As the National Security Strategy made clear, there are some real material policy and philosophical differences between the United States and the European Union on how to approach cutting-edge technologies, particularly software and artificial intelligence. We hope to address and bridge some of those differences in 2026. Ultimately, as real and significant these differences are, we also see notable areas of convergence on economic security and the need to deepen our collaboration on the de-risking of supply chains, on mitigating coercive dependencies and promoting economic sovereignty for our continents. And so we hope to make a great deal of progress through our discussions with the Netherlands as well as the European Union, Greece – which was the first country to sign an economic security declaration with the U.S. – as well as other partners who are key on the European continent.
So with that, I’d like to – I would welcome the opportunity to answer any questions.
MODERATOR: All right, thank you so much, Under Secretary. So we’ll go to a few of the pre-submitted questions now, but for people who are listening, if they want to add other questions to the chat, we will try and get to those as well.
So starting with a question from Lisa O’Carroll from The Guardian: “Would you like any further changes to the EU’s AI” – oh, sorry, rough Monday morning – “to the EU’s AI Act? If so, can you explain why?”
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: So thank you for that question. The view of the United States is that the European Union is far too regulated, which has been primarily at the detriment of European companies and European workers. We have seen a growing and accelerating economic divergence in the economic performance between the European Union and the U.S. for over a decade. We’re very – we – America wants a strong Europe and we want strong allies. We want Europe, Europe’s economy, to be as dynamic and live up to its full potential.
And ultimately, we believe there are two ways to approach AI governance. You can approach it through a sector-based end-use approach, or you can approach it by regulating the technology as a whole. We believe the AI Act is an approach that corresponds to the latter. We believe that regulating the technology as a whole, coming up with a law to rule them all, will ultimately lead to a massive overregulation of the AI industry, which will favor incumbents at the detriment of startups and new entrants in this market, which will actually be incredibly detrimental to European startups and companies. We want Europe to have a seat at the AI table. And we believe Europe – we see Europe as being home to some of the world’s leading companies – leading universities, I mean – and home to extraordinary talent.
So we think Europe has the talent. We think Europe has the financial institutions to provide the kind of risk capital needed. The difference is energy is very expensive in Europe and the regulations are far too onerous for European companies. So for Europe’s own good, we believe that Europe should work – we hope to work with Europe on an AI opportunity agenda and a pro-innovation agenda that actually promotes the startup ecosystem, that promotes new entrants on this market and actually helps European builders.
And we were very pleased to include the OECD and the Netherlands in Pax Silica discussion and welcome their cooperation in Pax Silica in 2026 as a good mechanism to align on technology policy.
MODERATOR: All right, thank you for that. So we’ll go to one of the other pre-submitted questions before going to other questions in the chat. So this one is from Phillip Inman of The Guardian: “Has the EU/UK done enough to limit the use of Chinese tech? Will the U.S. respect separate and distinct regulations by the EU/UK of AI and other tech-related activities, including search and so on?”
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: So as I noted in my opening remarks, economic security is a notable area of convergence where the U.S. and Europe are actually on the same page. The EU has, to its credit, undertaken a great deal of effort to adjust its views on the need for serious and robust economic security practices in – for the purpose of defending its own sovereignty, its economic sovereignty, as well as defending its market against coercive and predatory economic practices. We welcome that. We think it’s a line of effort that is going to make for very fruitful work between the EU and the U.S. in 2026 and applaud the work that’s being done on economic security.
Before – before we move to the next question, I just want to dial back to the previous question with one more point that I’d like to highlight. I know that the National Security Strategy, the language around Europe and around civilizational erasure, drew a lot of attention in Europe. What I’d like to highlight is that that language is a warning. It’s not an insult. And – because there is a growing sense of concern and alarm in the United States about the fact that Europe’s economic – relative economic decline as a share of the global GDP is a crisis. Its share – the fact that its growth rate is under 1 percent per year while the rest of the world grows at over 3 percent and Europe’s share of GDP keeps shrinking every single year, which is a contraction that compounds over time – we view that as a crisis because we want a strong Europe and we want strong allies.
And so yes, there is a degree of alarm in Washington about the need for serious reforms in order to jolt the European economy back to life. We think it’s possible with the right reforms. We welcome – we think that the simplification effort that is currently under discussion and review by the European Commission is an effort – is – that offers a historic opportunity for the European Commission to drastically simplify and reduce the regulatory burden in Europe and actually frees up talent and capital on the European continent. We really hope that the EU seizes this opportunity and rises to the plate, and ultimately, we stand ready to be productive partners to support any discussions as needed on that effort.
MODERATOR: All right, thank you for that. Now apologies are in order, I guess, for Phillip; we have a colleague pointing out that he is from Reuters, so sorry about that.
We’ll go to another question from the chat. This one is from Martin Sandbu, and the question is: “How will you react to EU policies aimed at achieving the end of European strategic dependencies on the U.S.?”
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Sorry, do you mind repeating the question again?
MODERATOR: Of course. So the question I think is trying to look at it from the other end and is saying: How will you or the U.S. react to EU policies aimed at achieving the end of European strategic dependence on the U.S.?
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Look, as I mentioned earlier, our biggest concern is we want Europe to be strong and to – and to be vibrant. So ultimately, we feel very good about our – we feel very good about the state of the American economy. The American economy, as you know, it grew at 4.3 percent in December, far outpacing all expectations. We want Europe to be strong. In order to – a condition for European strength is for Europe to really accelerate the need to deregulate and reduce its reliance on powers that are outwardly adversarial to Europe. Whether Europe chooses to partner with the U.S. to deepen supply chains or other powers, we want to make sure that Europe doesn’t partner with countries that will coerce it and blackmail Europe every single day of that partnership. Ultimately, we do have basic expectations that Europe lives up to the commitments it made in the bilateral U.S.-EU trade deal, which does include provisions on energy security. We believe that the U.S. has demonstrated it is a more than reliable partner on matters of economic security and energy security.
With that being said, if Europe wants to pursue partnerships with other countries, we are comfortable with that. We want to make sure that our closest allies are making smart decisions about their security, about their economic policy that reflects our national – our shared national security policy. As you know, the U.S. and Europe are bound by a historic 70-plus-year Alliance – transatlantic Alliance – through NATO. And so while we have this common security architecture, we want to make sure that that security architecture is not untethered from our shared economic security posture. And for that, we want to make sure that we are aligned on basic principles of economic security, and that’s what we hope to discuss with Europe at greater depth throughout the year.
MODERATOR: All right. Thank you for that. So we have a follow-up question to a question earlier, but I think it also applies to that, and it’s trying to look at one, I guess, specific recent event. This is also from Lisa O’Carroll. And the question is: “You just mentioned the importance of the UK aligning with the U.S. on AI. Why then did the U.S. pause negotiations on AI before Christmas?”
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: So there are ongoing negotiations between the U.S. and the UK on the Tech Prosperity Deal, which is what you’re referring to. I’m not going to comment on negotiations that are still ongoing and in flux. But ultimately, we were grateful that the UK joined the Pax Silica Initiative, which we view as being slightly different given its focus on supply chain security. We feel optimistic that the current negotiations on the Tech Prosperity Deal will land in the right place and will get resolved quickly.
MODERATOR: And I’ll ask one more general question based on some of the things you were saying. It sounds like you see this moment as a pivotal one for adjusting strategies and for realigning. Is that true? And if so, what makes this moment so critical?
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: So I think the world is really awakening to a new reality that the geography of the global supply chain is no longer – is no longer appropriate, and it’s starting to crumble under the weight of overconcentration, and it’s far too brittle. Economies around the world are realizing that a new geography for the technology supply chain is needed, and with that new geography needs to come incentives as well as economic security practices.
This is why the reorganization of the global supply chain is also happening at the same time that we are living through a technological revolution in artificial intelligence. And so the juxtaposition of these two major historic trends really provide a unique opportunity that will likely shift and shape the global patterns of trade for several decades to come.
Pax Silica marked a major milestone in the U.S. Government shaping a proactive approach to leading a new positive vision for what the architecture of the AI century is going to look like. It is the first time that countries are organizing around compute, silicon, and energy. And we believe this will be an accurate reflection of where the economic dynamism will derive from in the 21st century.
The last point that I’d note is we also believe that a lot of economic value will flow through and across the supply chain, which is partly why we’ve seen different countries who contribute at different layers of the supply chain – whether it’s minerals, energy, or manufacturing – be incredibly excited to participate in Pax Silica, because economic growth will not just flow at the very top through the development of large language models; it’s going to flow through the manufacturing of semiconductors, it’s going to flow through the production of energy, through the mining of rare earth minerals, the processing of those rare earth minerals. We’re seeing that the explosion in AI is leading to record demand for minerals, record demand for infrastructure and CapEx investments, record demand for manufacturing. All of that is an extraordinary engine of growth.
And so we need to have a very diverse pallet of partners who bring unique attributes to the table. We were very grateful for the Netherlands to participate. The Netherlands isn’t just home to ASML, it’s also home to the port of Rotterdam, which is a global node and hub in logistics. And so we want to use that as a springboard to expand our conversations with other partners on the European continent in 2026 to leverage real areas of convergence on economic security. And ultimately, we hope that in doing so we will bridge some of the real differences that we have on software and AI policy.
MODERATOR: All right. Unfortunately, that’s all the time we have for today. But thank you so much for all of your questions, and also to you, Under Secretary Helberg, for joining us. I just want to give a little bit more information to everyone about where things go from here. So shortly we will send the audio recording of the briefing to all the participating journalists and provide a transcript as soon as it’s available. We’d also love to hear your feedback, and you can contact us at any time at thebrusselshub@state.gov.
Thank you again for your participation, and we hope that you can join us for another Brussels Hub press briefing soon. This ends today’s press briefing. Have a good day, everyone.
UNDER SECRETARY HELBERG: Thank you.
Deputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Prévot
01/05/2026
Deputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Prévot
01/05/2026 05:17 PM EST
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HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Deputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Prévot
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Deputy Secretary Landau’s Meeting with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Prévot
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January 5, 2026
The below is attributable to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott:
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau met today with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot. The two leaders reaffirmed the historic and close cooperation between the United States and Belgium and discussed a variety of other topics of mutual concern, including commerce, security, and migration. Deputy Secretary Landau and Deputy Prime Minister Prévot last met a month ago in Brussels, and once again their discussion was marked by frankness and goodwill.
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Belgium Bilateral Relations and Engagement Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Deputy Secretary of State Office of the Spokesperson
Secretary Rubio’s Call with Holy See Secretary of State Parolin
01/06/2026
Secretary Rubio’s Call with Holy See Secretary of State Parolin
01/06/2026 12:50 PM EST
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HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Secretary Rubio’s Call with Holy See Secretary of State Parolin
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Secretary Rubio’s Call with Holy See Secretary of State Parolin
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January 6, 2026
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke today with His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See. The two leaders discussed pressing challenges, including efforts to improve the humanitarian situation, particularly in Venezuela, as well as the promotion of peace and religious freedom globally. Secretary Rubio and Cardinal Parolin reaffirmed their commitment to deepening cooperation between the United States and the Holy See in addressing shared priorities around the world.
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Bilateral Relations and Engagement Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Holy See Office of the Spokesperson The Secretary of State
Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Prévot
01/06/2026
Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Prévot
01/06/2026 05:06 PM EST
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HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Prévot
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Secretary Rubio’s Meeting with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Prévot
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January 6, 2026
The following is attributable to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met today with Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Prévot. They discussed Venezuela, the importance of counternarcotics cooperation, and the state of Gaza peace talks.
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Belgium Bilateral Relations and Engagement Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Office of the Spokesperson The Secretary of State
Secretary Rubio’s Call with G7 Foreign Ministers
01/07/2026
Secretary Rubio’s Call with G7 Foreign Ministers
01/07/2026 04:23 PM EST
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HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Secretary Rubio’s Call with G7 Foreign Ministers
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Secretary Rubio’s Call with G7 Foreign Ministers
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January 7, 2026
The below is attributable to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke yesterday with G7 foreign ministers. The leaders discussed the United States’ counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean, the arrest of Nicolás Maduro, and the need to ensure a proper, judicious transition of power in Venezuela. They also reiterated support for ongoing negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Secretary Rubio and his counterparts reaffirmed the importance of continued cooperation.
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Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs G-7 Narcotics Office of the Spokesperson Russia The Secretary of State Ukraine Venezuela
Digital Press Briefing with Michael George DeSombre, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs on the Cambodia-Thailand Ceasefire
01/09/2026
Digital Press Briefing with Michael George DeSombre, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs on the Cambodia-Thailand Ceasefire
01/09/2026 09:22 AM EST
Michael George DeSombre, Assistant SecretaryBureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
Asia Pacific Media Hub
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 are honored to be joined by Michael George DeSombre, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. He will discuss the ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand and the implementation of the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords.
Okay, with that, let’s get started. Assistant Secretary DeSombre, I’ll turn it over to you for your opening remarks.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: Thank you, Young. It’s a pleasure to speak with you today from Bangkok, where I’m meeting with senior Thai officials to discuss the implementation of the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords and broader efforts to promote our shared interests in a safer, stronger, and more prosperous Indo-Pacific. Tomorrow I’ll continue these discussions with Cambodian officials in Phnom Penh.
Cambodia and Thailand recently agreed to a ceasefire after weeks of renewed border fighting, an achievement welcomed by the United States, with direct messages of support from President Trump and Secretary Rubio. Thailand’s release of 18 Cambodian soldiers marked a critical step toward lasting peace. Today I’m going to outline how we got to this point and how the United States, under President Trump’s leadership, has been engaged directly to restore peace.
After a month of rising tensions, including deadly incidents and the expulsion of ambassadors, border closures, disrupted trade, and displaced thousands, on July 26th President Trump intervened decisively, calling the leaders of both countries and urging them to pursue peace and warning that certain initiatives would pause until fighting stopped. Secretary Rubio reinforced this message, and offered U.S. support for future discussions. Within 24 hours, Cambodia and Thailand agreed to send delegations to Malaysia for ceasefire talks cohosted by then-ASEAN chair Malaysia and the United States under our U.S. ambassador to Malaysia. By midnight July 28th, an agreement was reached and the ceasefire began, thanks to President Trump and Prime Minister Anwar’s mediation.
In the days and weeks that followed, our teams maintained close contact with both sides, condemning potential violations and reinforcing U.S. support for peace. This ongoing diplomacy was critical to solidifying the arrangement and reinforcing President Trump’s desire for a peaceful outcome. On August 7th, we welcomed further progress as the General Border Committee met to establish an interim ASEAN observation mechanism. Again, our U.S. ambassador to Malaysia represented us, this time with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Hunt VanderToll.
Subsequently, Secretary Rubio emphasized that he and President Trump expected the governments of Cambodia and Thailand to fully honor their commitments to end this conflict. He also expressed gratitude on behalf of the United States to Malaysian Prime Minister and ASEAN Chair Anwar Ibrahim for his leadership and for hosting the ceasefire process. At the UN General Assembly in September, Deputy Secretary Chris Landau met with the foreign ministers of Cambodia, Malaysia, and Thailand to reaffirm each nation’s commitment to achieving a durable and lasting peace. Each underscored the need to de-escalate tensions and achieve a finalized peace agreement, setting the tone for continued progress.
In October, our then-senior bureau official traveled to Bangkok and Phnom Penh to meet with his counterparts and press both sides to sign a declaration of peace. Four-party talks then ensued, including the United States and Malaysia, to finalize the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords and establish terms of reference texts. On October 26th, with President Trump on the stage, we witnessed the historic signing of the declaration on the margins of the ASEAN summit.
I traveled to Bangkok and Phnom Penh November 1st through 4th to reiterate our support for the process, but new challenges soon emerged, including renewed violence and a temporary pause in Thailand’s implementation on November 10th, after further landmine incidents. The United States response was swift. President Trump again called his Cambodian, Thai, and Malaysian counterparts to get things back on track on November 14th. Our officials remained actively involved in discussions, including early December, when fighting resumed. My colleague traveled to Cambodia and Thailand December 8th to 11th to find a solution, while both President Trump and Secretary Rubio continued conversations with their counterparts.
After intense diplomatic engagement, we were encouraged by Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan’s leadership in convening and hosting an ASEAN foreign ministers meeting on December 22nd. Afterwards, though a meeting between Cambodian and Thai officials through the General Border Committee mechanism, peace was once again established on December 27th.
As we have said, the United States will continue to support the Cambodian and Thai governments as they implement the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords and pave the way for a return to peace, prosperity, and stability for their people and the region. To help achieve this, I am proud to announce that we will be providing 15 million U.S. dollars for border stabilization, to help communities recover, and to support displaced persons; 10 million U.S. dollars in demining and unexploded ordnance clearing operations; and 20 million U.S. dollars for initiatives that will help both countries combat scam operations and drug trafficking, among many other programs.
The restoration of peace at the Thai-Cambodia border opens new opportunities for the United States to deepen our work with both countries, to promote regional stability, and advance our interests in a safer, stronger, and more prosperous Indo-Pacific.
With that, I’ll turn it back to Young to take your questions.
MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. We will now turn to the Q&A portion of today’s briefing.
Our first question goes to Saksith – Saksith Saiyasombut from Channel News Asia, who is based here in Bangkok, Thailand. Saksith, please unmute yourself and go ahead.
Saksith, can you please unmute yourself?
QUESTION: Hello, can you hear me?
MODERATOR: Yes, we can hear you. Go ahead, Saksith.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. Secretary DeSombre, thank you very much for this opportunity to speak to you. I remember when you were ambassador here to Bangkok. I have two questions for you.
How is the United States involved to ensure that the KL Peace Accords are followed by both countries, and what can or will the U.S. do if there’s another breach and another escalation?
And my second question is that, how does the United States view China’s involvement recently, especially the – what is said has been dubbed the shuttle diplomacy between the two countries late last year? Thank you very much.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: Sure, thank you very much for those questions. Maybe I’ll take them in reverse order. I’ve detailed very clearly all of the significant involvement that the United States, under President Trump’s leadership, has undertaken to achieve this peace since July. I think I really don’t know what China did except have a meeting after the last ceasefire has occurred, so I really think there’s not much there.
As it comes to the U.S. involvement in ensuring the KL Peace Accords are kept, again, President Trump is very focused on ensuring peace in this area as in other countries, and obviously Secretary Rubio and everyone below him, including myself, are actively engaged in ensuring that happens, and that is obviously one of the reasons why I’m here today in Thailand and I will be in Cambodia tomorrow.
MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, sir, for your comprehensive answer. We will move on to the next question, and the next question is a pre-submitted question from Ms. Faye Kwan, Astro Awani, Malaysia. And I will just read the questions here that she pre-submitted: “How is the U.S. working with regional partners to support a lasting ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand? And are there any diplomatic tools in place in the event of another violation?”
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: That’s a very good question. We really saw in the process of achieving the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords the real active involvement of Malaysia as the then-ASEAN chair, really demonstrating the power of the chair of ASEAN to be actively involved in promoting regional peace and stability. And so we see that role continuing within ASEAN and really are encouraged by it and look forward to supporting that.
As part of that, the mechanisms for the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords include the ASEAN observer teams, which are representatives from different ASEAN states that are there to help ensure that the ceasefire is kept and investigate any issues that arise with it. So we believe that multilateral mechanism involving the ASEAN observer teams will be very helpful in preserving the peace accords.
MODERATOR: Great. Thank you, sir. Our next questions – our next question goes to David Rising from the Associated Press, Bangkok, Thailand. David, I will let you – I will give you permission to talk, and if you can please unmute yourself and raise your questions. Thank you.
QUESTION: Yes, hi, can you hear me?
MODERATOR: Yes, we can hear you loud and clear.
QUESTION: I’m interested just in light of what you were talking about with the multilateral mechanisms, that the initial peace agreement that was hammered out in Kuala Lumpur was fairly short on details of how it would be implemented and how it would be maintained, and we’ve seen that it hasn’t worked very well so far. Is there any evidence that the ASEAN observers are actually active and doing anything and that – or that they will be soon?
And I guess as a second question, there’s been a lot of criticism here in Thailand of the U.S.’s involvement in the process, in that Thailand is a treaty ally of the United States, whereas Cambodia is much closer to China, and it’s seen as the U.S. is treating both of the countries as if they were the same. And I’m wondering if this is somehow an indication of change in policy by the Trump Administration on how it treats its allies in Southeast Asia?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: I think with any conflict, especially one that has been ongoing for a long time in terms of disputes over the border between Thailand and Cambodia, these conflicts are difficult to resolve and often take some time. So the fact that there was a breakdown and resurgence of fighting, and then ultimately a resolution, is part of a process in general. But now we see that the KL Peace Accords have been implemented, and a ceasefire is there, and we’re optimistic that that ceasefire will be maintained.
As to the ASEAN observer teams, I think we’re also optimistic that they will play an increasingly valuable role. Their creation, obviously, and certain processes in terms of getting people in the field, took a little bit longer than was hoped, but we’re now confident and optimistic that that will work its way going forward.
There has been no change in our policy with regard to Thailand as our strategic ally, and we’re optimistic that with the KL Peace Accords that we’ll be able to resume sort of our relationship at the appropriate levels with both Thailand and Cambodia.
MODERATOR: Thank you. Our next question goes to one of the questions posed in the Q&A box, and it goes to Amy Chew from Nikkei Asia. Amy, please unmute yourself and go ahead.
We seem to have – be having some difficulties with the audio, so I’ll go ahead and read Amy’s question that she posed in the chat box: “There have been new strikes on January 6th. There was a new strike on 6th of January.” I believe she’s – she means there was – there were new strikes on January 6th. “Do you expect the last – the latest ceasefire to hold? And number two, when will the funds you just mentioned be disbursed?”
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: Thank you for that question. You bring up a very good example. The January 6th incident was apparently an accidental ordnance from Cambodian into Thailand, and the way that the two countries dealt with it really indicates the strength and the more likely retention of this ceasefire that was resolved between the military commanders on site, talking to each other and deciding that everything was okay and there was no retaliation by Thailand at that time. So I think this is a good indication of the stability of this new ceasefire.
What was the second question?
MODERATOR: Yes, the second question was on the timeline of the disbursement of the funds.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: Ah. Oh, right. I mean, that is still a process we just announced and provided this information to Thailand today, and we’ll be speaking to Cambodia tomorrow, so we will be speaking with them and figuring out exactly how the amounts are disbursed and when. But we’re very committed to ensuring that these amounts are used to take care of displaced persons at the border, and otherwise focus on demining, and really also focus on the scam centers that have been the cause of lots of disruption in the region and in the United States.
MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. I see Albert Lee has their hand raised. Albert, please unmute yourself and state your full name and your affiliation before your question, please.
QUESTION: Right, great. Is this turned on?
MODERATOR: Yes, we can hear you.
QUESTION: All right, Albert Lee with Overt Defense. I have two questions. The first is, are there any details on the breakdown of the reconstruction and demining funding mentioned earlier, as in how much is each country receiving to support efforts on their side of the border?
The second is, what is the United States doing to support the border demarcation and surveying work under the Joint Boundary Commission?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: Sure, thank you for those questions. I’ll take them in reverse order. I mean, the Joint Boundary Commission and the general demarcation of the border is something that will be resolved bilaterally between Thailand and Cambodia. We obviously stand by to provide support as required, but our understanding is that this will be resolved bilaterally between the two countries, and we’re optimistic that under the current KL Peace Accords and the underlying documents that this will be done. It obviously is a challenging process, but it looks like they’re moving in the right direction.
As I mentioned before, details on the funding and exactly what’s going where is still in discussion and process, and it’s something that we should have further announcements in the near future.
MODERATOR: Great. Our next question goes to one of the chat box’s questions. It’s from Yovinka Devi. We will give you permission to talk. Can you please unmute yourself, Yovinka, and go ahead?
QUESTION: Hello, can you hear me?
MODERATOR: Yes, we can hear you loud and clear.
QUESTION: Right. So good today. I’m Yovinka Devi from BFM Media. I have a broad question (inaudible). So I have two questions. My first is on the economic risk. So how does the U.S. assess economic risk if the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord implementation stalls, both for Thailand markets and trade in Asia?
And my second question is, the upcoming Thai elections are expected to bring greater peace and help resolve further the Cambodia-Thailand conflict?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: Thank you. The first question, as President Trump has made clear many times, conflicts and peace are detrimental to commercial success and economic prosperity. So we’re very optimistic that through the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords and the ceasefire that will be maintained, it will be beneficial to the economies of Thailand and Cambodia, and people will be able to revert back to their normal business activities.
Obviously, as part of that, we’re hoping for opening of the border in the near future to allow businesses that have operations across both sides of Thailand and Cambodia are able to revert back to normal operations.
With regard to the second question, the Thai elections as of February 8th, I think, will obviously be important in determining the Government of Thailand that’s going forward, but I don’t have any comments or insights into anything how it relates to the KL Peace Accords, but I’m confident that the Thailand Government, under whoever is leading it, will be implementing those peace accords, as we’ve discussed.
MODERATOR: I see that Tsung Hsien Lee from Central News Agency Taiwan has their hand raised. Please unmute yourself and go ahead.
QUESTION: Hello. This is Lee Tsung Hsien from Taiwan Central News Agency. I would like to ask, how does U.S. respond to concerns, including in Southeast Asia, that the application of international law can appear selective in different global conflicts? And how does this affect U.S. efforts to promote peace in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Cambodia-Thailand ceasefire? Thank you.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: Thank you. I think the United States is very focused on promoting a safe, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific, and all of our efforts globally are intended to help accomplish that fact, or that goal.
MODERATOR: Great. The next question goes to one of our journalists who pre-submitted their questions. Kerou Wang Caixin Media, who is based in Beijing, China. And the question is: “Thailand and Cambodia experienced two rounds of conflict in 2025, with the second being larger in scale than the first. What monitoring mechanisms might the international community employ to help ensure long-term peace along the Thai-Cambodian border?”
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: Thank you for that question. Again, this demonstrates the value of ASEAN’s role in helping to bring about this peace, and particularly the role played by then-ASEAN chair Malaysia and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, working together with President Trump, to really help promote this peace effort and to achieve a lasting peace between Thailand and Cambodia.
So we’re optimistic that ASEAN will be able to play a larger role, and the use of the innovative ASEAN observer teams as part of maintaining this piece hopefully will be a precedent that can be adopted in future situations as well.
MODERATOR: Thank you, sir, for that answer. We will take another pre-submitted question from Mr. Chheng Niem from the Phnom Penh Post: “How can the U.S. ensure both Cambodia and Thailand respect the ceasefire, beyond encouraging? How can the U.S. force Thailand to withdraw troops from the Cambodian territory and pave the way for both sides to continue on demarcation works?”
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: We are optimistic that both Thailand and Cambodia now desire to keep the peace and to ultimately resolve their border disputes. This will entail significant effort by both Thailand and Cambodia, and will take probably a significant amount of time, but we are optimistic that they’re now desirous to do that, and we’ll follow through with that.
MODERATOR: Great. Thank you, sir. Ms. Kanokwan Kerdplanant from Bangkok Business Newspaper, can you please unmute yourself and go ahead with your question, please?
Ms. Kerdplanant, can you hear us?
I – we can come back to you. Yes, we can hear you. Please go ahead with your question.
QUESTION: All right. I’m sorry, I think I raised hand by accidentally. I’m sorry, I have no – I sent question already. Sorry.
MODERATOR: Okay. Oh, okay. So we can go ahead and revisit your pre-submitted question in just a little bit.
In the meantime, I will move on to another pre-submitted question from Manila, Philippines. Ms. Marjorie Pelayo from UNTV Philippines asks: “What measures do you have to protect other foreign nationals affected by the conflict? If one of the parties breached the ceasefire deal, what are the sanctions?”
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: The most important way of protecting all civilians from the conflict is to achieve a lasting peace, which we have hopefully achieved here, and then we’re optimistic will be kept between Thailand and Cambodia.
With regard to citizens of various countries, obviously each country has its consular affairs and others to help address their citizens, but the most important thing is to prevent the conflict, and that is what we’ve spent a lot of time and effort doing, and we’re optimistic that the fighting has now ceased and will no longer affect civilian populations.
MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. We have a question in the chat box from Kevin Smith. He is an independent journalist based in Phnom Penh. “Assistant Secretary Michael George DeSombre, the United States has long emphasized responsible use and oversight of U.S.-origin defense equipment by partners. In the Cambodia-Thailand ceasefire, how does the United States assess the continued operation of Thailand’s U.S.-supplied F-16 aircraft? And what role do existing end-use monitoring or conditional support mechanisms play in encouraging restraint and compliance with the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords?”
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: Participants in our foreign military sales must agree to certain requirements, including that they cannot transfer the U.S. military without U.S. Government consent, and that they need to remain – retain security over U.S.-origin weapons. We did not place any additional restrictions on Thailand.
MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. The next question that was submitted in advance comes from Mr. Kris Mada, Kompas Morning Daily, from Jakarta, Indonesia. “How would U.S. facilitate predictable, stable, and measured relations between Cambodia and Thailand? What measure for the relations? What are U.S. priorities with ASEAN during the Philippines presidency? What is the U.S. stance relating to Myanmar’s election?”
I will – Mr. Kris, I will follow up with you on that last question because it is off-topic, and we want to make sure that for – out of respect for everyone who joined this call to discuss the ceasefire deal and the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord, we will stay on topic for this call. So, Assistant Secretary DeSombre, if you can please help us address the first two questions, we would really appreciate that.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: Sure. I think we’re very optimistic with Philippines now being the chair of ASEAN, and really, we’ll be focusing with them on our joint priorities and ensuring a safe, secure, and more prosperous Indo-Pacific.
MODERATOR: Thank you, sir. We have – unfortunately, we are almost out of time. I believe we can squeeze in maybe one more question, and that goes to Keigo Matsushita from Kyodo News, based in Vietnam. And the question is: “In December’s clash, could you please share more information? Which side did start the attack?”
ASSISTANT SECRETARY DESOMBRE: What’s important now is that the ceasefire has been achieved and peace will be maintained, and so that’s what we’re focusing on at the moment.
MODERATOR: Absolutely, sir. Okay. So we, unfortunately, are out of time. I know there were about 200 people on this call today, and I will make sure that if you weren’t able to get your questions answered on the call, we will follow up with you in email after this call to make sure that you get the questions – you get your questions answered.
So thank you, and Assistant Secretary DeSombre, if you have any closing remarks, I’ll turn it back to you.
MODERATOR: Thank you very much, Young. I appreciate the time and opportunity to speak to all of you. We are very focused on pursuing peace in – around the world. President Trump is a President of peace and really believes that peace is critical to economic growth and prosperity, and it’ll be a top focus of our entire administration. And here in the Indo-Pacific, we’re really focused on ensuring we create and promote a safe, secure, and more prosperous Indo-Pacific for all countries in the Indo-Pacific.
So with that, thank you very much, Young, and thank you, everyone, for participating, and have a good remainder of the day.
MODERATOR: Thank you so much, sir. This concludes the briefing for today. Thank you all for joining us. And we will provide a transcript of this briefing to participating journalists as soon as is it – as soon as it’s available. And if you have any feedback or further questions, please do feel free to contact us at AsiaPacMedia@state.gov. Thanks again, and have a great weekend, everyone.
# # #
Secretary Rubio’s Call with Spanish Foreign Minister Albares
01/09/2026
Secretary Rubio’s Call with Spanish Foreign Minister Albares
01/09/2026 10:58 AM EST
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Secretary Rubio’s Call with Spanish Foreign Minister Albares
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January 9, 2026
The below is attributable to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke today with Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares. The two leaders discussed the United States’ counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean and the need to ensure a proper, judicious transition of power in Venezuela.
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Bilateral Relations and Engagement Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Office of the Spokesperson The Secretary of State Spain
The Week at State: January 2, 2026 – January 8, 2026
01/09/2026
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January 2 – January 8
Here’s what happened at State this week. ⤵️🧑⚖️The United States brought Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to justice.
🇺🇲We are gearing up for America’s semiquincentennial.
🇮🇱🇸🇾The U.S. is helping Israel and Syria turn a new page toward a stable, prosperous relationship.
U.S. Brings Nicolás Maduro to Justice
President Donald Trump monitors U.S. military operations in Venezuela from Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday, January 3, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Molly Riley)
On January 3, the United States successfully captured and arrested Nicolás Maduro, who now faces justice for his role as the leader of a transnational criminal organization.
“This is something that was a direct threat to the national interest of the United States,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a press conference, “and the President addressed it.”
The U.S. is working to ensure he is held accountable for his multiple decades of narco-terrorism that has flooded American communities with illegal drugs.
Maduro was arraigned in a New York City court on January 5 and will stand trial for his crimes. He is charged with narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.
Following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, Secretary Rubio outlined a comprehensive strategy to restore order and prosperity to Venezuela. This “threefold process” focuses on using American economic leverage to ensure a stable transition.
1776–2026
Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware” (Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
On July 4, 2026, America will celebrate 250 years of independence.
As America enters its semiquincentennial year, the federal, state, and local governments — along with the private sector, and nonprofit and educational institutions — will be celebrating this momentous anniversary.
To kick off the historical reflection and celebration, the White House has created an original video series, The Story of America.
Throughout the year, Freedom 250, the national, nonpartisan organization leading the celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday, will be coordinating federal and local events to give America the most spectacular birthday party the world has ever seen.
To help communities celebrate, Freedom 250 has published free toolkits for classrooms, fairs, and other events.
Israel, Syria Reaffirm Commitment to Security and Stability
On January 6, the United States hosted a historic trilateral meeting in Paris with Israel and Syria to establish a framework of mutual respect for each country’s sovereignty and security.
As a result of the talks, Israel and Syria agreed to a dedicated communication system under the supervision of the United States to facilitate immediate and ongoing coordination on: Intelligence sharing
Military de-escalation
Diplomatic engagement
Commercial opportunities
This coordination mechanism will serve as a permanent platform to prevent misunderstandings and address security concerns along the border.
News You May Have MissedThe United States withdrew from 66 international organizations identified as wasteful, ineffective, and harmful.
Secretary Rubio spoke with the G7 Foreign Ministers, where he discussed the need for a proper, judicious transition of power in Venezuela, negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and continued cooperation.
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