US President Donald Trump hopes to hold bilateral meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the upcoming international forums of the G-20 and APEC. This was stated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the meeting of G-20 foreign ministers in Atlanta, Georgia.
The meeting of G-20 leaders will be held on December 14 and 15 at the “Trump National Doral“ complex near Miami, Florida. However, Putin's participation has not yet been confirmed. Rubio has already said that Washington hopes that the Russian president will accept Trump's invitation.
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum will be held in November in Shenzhen, China. It is there that a new opportunity for talks between Trump and Xi is expected, after the two leaders have already held meetings this year. Separately, Russia has offered the possibility of talks between Trump, Putin and Xi within the framework of APEC, but so far no final format for such a meeting has been confirmed.
Rubio: Elections will not change the course
At the press conference, Rubio also commented on the upcoming midterm elections for Congress, which will be held on November 3. According to him, even a victory for the Democratic Party would not have a significant impact on the course of American foreign policy.
„Congress has a certain role in foreign policy. I myself have been involved in this for a long time as a senator and I understand what Congress can and cannot do. Ultimately, foreign policy decisions are made by the executive branch,“ said Rubio.The Secretary of State added that the elections have not yet been held and it is not known what the composition of Congress will be. However, he said Trump was elected to set and implement US foreign policy.
The comments came after a two-day meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Atlanta. The forum ended without a joint communique due to disagreements over the war in Ukraine, the conflict with Iran, US trade measures and the security of key sea routes. Instead of a joint document, the US is preparing a presidential statement.
Rubio said he would not portray the talks as close to finding universal solutions, but pointed out that some countries are working together on issues such as supply chains and critical minerals.
Sources: apnews.com, afp.com, aol.co.uk