U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to select Sen. Marco Rubio to be his secretary of state and Rep. Mike Waltz to be national security adviser — picks that will likely see the second Trump White House get even more hawkish on China but prove reassuring for American allies such as Japan.
The pick of Rubio to be the top U.S. diplomat was first reported Monday by The New York Times, which quoted three unidentified sources. The sources said that while Trump could still change his mind at the last minute, he appeared to have settled on Rubio as of Monday.
A senior member of the powerful Senate foreign relations and intelligence committees, Rubio has long been an advocate for a more muscular approach to Beijing.