WASHINGTON, D.C. – This past year, the Trump administration has tried a more unilateral approach on foreign affairs. From cutting agencies and staff, to making peace deals, the State Department said it’s been a busy year.
In a nearly two-hour press conference, Secretary of State Marco Rubio fielded questions on a variety of foreign affairs while pushing the administration’s message:
“We remain engaged around the world, including in conflicts that perhaps are not central to everyday life in America,” said the Secretary. “The President has made it a priority to be a peacemaker.”
The Trump administration has claimed responsibility for ending several conflicts and negotiating peace deals but experts caution some of these deals remain fragile, like the one between Israel and Hamas. The Secretary acknowledged the challenges of keeping the truce.
“That war is no longer going on at the scale and scope and all the things that were going on before but obviously there’s more work to remain,” said the Secretary.
The relationship with Ukraine has had its ups and downs. The President and Ukraine’s President even sparred in the Oval Office earlier this year. “You don’t have the cards,” President Trump told Volodymyr Zelenskyy in March. The relationship seems to have improved since then with the pair meeting several times after that.
In the summer the President met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Secretary said talks for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is ongoing.
These past few months the administration amassed a large military presence in the Caribbean striking alleged drug carrying boats and most recently, capturing sanctioned oil carrying ships. The Secretary says its part to counter drug trafficking, but the moves have heightened tensions with Venezuela.
“The current status quo with the Venezuelan regime is intolerable for the United States,” said the Secretary. “The status quo that they operate and cooperate with terrorist organizations against the national interest of the United States, not just cooperate but partner with and participate in activities that threaten the national interest of the United States. So yes, our goal is to change that dynamic, and that’s why the President’s doing what he’s doing.”
This year, a lot of internal change swept through the State Department, including dismantling US Agency on International Development, our foreign aid arm; Taking a more “America First” policy towards foreign affairs; and reducing the workforce. The administration is also going back to some of their first term changes in issuing visas for certain countries. Mignon Houston, a deputy spokesperson said these charges are meant to protect Americans.
“Our visa policies and our changes are just to ensure we are expanding vetting, so we are looking at all tools including social media for certain visa classes to ensure those individuals have good intentions when they come to the United States,” said Houston.
A new report from the American Foreign Service Association, the professional association for the US foreign service members, released a recent report claiming they’re seeing a historic crisis due to large scale layoffs, shrinking resources and what respondents describe as increasing politicization of the workforce. They said these changes have hurt their ability to advance US priorities.
