In 2016, President Trump practically ran on an anti-China platform and, once in office, followed through by launching a trade war against Beijing. At the dawn of his second term, Trump’s cabinet picks signal an even more hawkish stance on China and a ratcheting up of US-China tensions in the years ahead. Key appointments include Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, Michael Waltz as National Security Adviser, John Ratcliffe as CIA Director, Robert Lighthizer as US Trade Representative, and Elise Stefanik as US Ambassador to the United Nations. Each official has a track record of confronting China on critical issues, ranging from trade and human rights to military aggression and industrial espionage.

Setting the Tone with Rubio as Secretary of State

In terms of setting the tone for the regime’s foreign policy posture in the Asia-Pacific, the most significant cabinet pick is without a doubt Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. A longtime critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Rubio has long trumpeted China as the greatest strategic challenge to the United States, and in the process has been a frequent critic of past policy which he views as having enabled Beijing to grow its economy at the expense of US manufacturing and democratic norms. Rubio has repeatedly warned of China’s ambitions to replace the United States as the dominant global power, emphasizing the need for a strong and decisive response to counter Beijing’s strategic aims.