WASHINGTON — Since Donald Trump won the election by a landslide, the 78-year-old former president and president-elect has been announcing cabinet and senior official appointments almost daily. As president, he must appoint over 1,000 government positions, including approximately 1,200 that require Senate confirmation and about 450 that do not. The entire process can take months or even over a year. The entire process can take months or even more than a year. Trump has officially announced candidates for cabinet and senior positions including the secretary of state, national security advisor, the White House chief of staff, attorney general, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and director of the National Security Agency.
Rubio to become the first secretary of state sanctioned by China
On Nov. 13, Trump’s transition team announced the nomination of Florida’s Cuban-American Republican Senator Marco Rubio for the position of U.S. Secretary of State. As the highest-ranking official in charge of foreign affairs, the appointment requires a Senate vote. Following the congressional elections on Nov. 5, the Republicans have regained control of the Senate, making Rubio’s confirmation as the next secretary of state almost certain.
If confirmed, 53-year-old Rubio will become the first Latino secretary of state in U.S. history and potentially the first to assume the role while under Chinese sanctions — unless Beijing lifts them. Rubio was sanctioned twice by China in 2020 for his hardline stance on issues related to Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Chinese state media has labeled him one of the “most radical anti-China politicians.”
Rubio’s parents emigrated from Cuba to the United States in the 1950s, working as a bartender and a hotel maid in Florida, embodying the first generation of “American Dream” achievers. Despite his modest upbringing, Rubio graduated from the University of Miami School of Law and entered politics, becoming a Florida State Representative at 27 and a U.S. Senator at 39. In 2016, he participated in the Republican presidential primary but lost to Trump. Their brief rivalry, marked by mutual ridicule, remains memorable, yet Rubio later became a strong Trump ally, campaigning vigorously for him in subsequent years.
Jonathan Ward, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, told Voice of America that Rubio could “revitalize the role of the U.S. State Department in U.S. grand strategy,” praising him as “one of the earliest and bravest voices in the U.S. government against China’s human rights atrocities, expansionist ambitions, and threats to the United States.”
Wesley Alexander Hill, International Program Manager at the International Tax and Investment Center in Washington D.C., said in an interview with Voice of America that Rubio is a traditional rightist on the political spectrum and has consistently taken a hardline stance on China.
Having served on both the Senate Intelligence Committee and Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio is considered a hawk among hawks on China. He has described China’s economic rise as a “real threat” to the United States, consistently advocating for strong measures to counter it, including industrial policies aimed at addressing China’s economic competition, and numerous sanctions against Chinese companies.
At the end of 2019, Rubio questioned TikTok’s content moderation practices during the Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests and requested the U.S. Treasury Department to investigate ByteDance’s acquisition of Musical.ly. In November 2023, he again called for shutting down TikTok, saying “it’s being used to downplay Hamas terrorism.” In September this year, Rubio, along with Republican Senator Josh Hawley, initiated a bill to revoke China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations.
In a report released in September titled The World China Made, Rubio described China as “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever faced,” emphasizing that the U.S. must take proactive measures to counter China’s growing economic and technological strength.
On the Taiwan issue, when asked about Trump’s remarks that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for its defense, he told a group of reporters on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July that the “existential threat” Taiwan faced meant it should boost defense expenditures, but in the meanwhile, he expected Trump to continue to back Taiwan.
Hill believes that it is not a big deal for a secretary of state to be sanctioned by China. “During the Cold War, there were similar instances where senior U.S. officials were deemed undesirable by certain countries prior to their promotions. If Rubio wishes to meet with Chinese government officials, he could do so in locations like South Korea, without requiring China to lift its sanctions against him. Such situations are not uncommon in international diplomacy and are unlikely to hinder interactions between the two sides,” he told Voice of America.
National Security Advisor Waltz: when you see “Made in China,” “put it down”
On Nov. 12, Trump’s transition team announced that it has selected Florida Republican Congressman Mike Waltz as the next national security advisor. Also known as the assistant to the president for national security affairs (APNSA), the national security advisor briefs the president on national security issues, conveying and implementing the president’s policies, and coordinating among various departments. The position is appointed by the president and does not require Senate confirmation.
Among Trump’s cabinet picks, the 50-year-old Waltz may be less well-known, but his impressive resume includes receiving four Bronze Stars, as well as achievements as a businessman and bestselling author. Waltz served in the U.S. Army and National Guard for nearly 27 years and was deployed to Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa as a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, known as the Green Berets. During the Bush administration, Waltz served as a policy advisor to former U.S. Defense Secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates.
Waltz is regarded as one of the most prominent hawkish representatives on China. He was a member of the House China Task Force, a committee of 15 Republican lawmakers in charge of coordinating China policy. Waltz has introduced bills aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on critical minerals from China, as well as strengthening scrutiny of Chinese students and scholars in the U.S., and securing American universities from Chinese espionage activities.
Waltz posted on social media platform X on Oct. 3: “China is using the ~400,000 students it sends to the US each year to covertly collect intellectual property & send it back to the Chinese Communist Party. They have no choice under Chinese law but to comply.”
During the Beijing Winter Olympics in February 2022, Waltz blasted NBC’s refusal to air an ad he created, in which he accused the glamorous Winter Olympics of concealing the Chinese government’s poor human rights record. “American companies are drunk on Chinese dollars – entangled with Communist dictators committing atrocities,” Waltz says in the ad, adding “put it down” when seeing “Made in China.”
Waltz criticized the Biden administration for being “not fast enough” in its preparations on the Taiwan issue. In a book published this year titled “Hard Truths: Think and Lead Like a Green Beret,” Waltz laid out a five part strategy to preventing war with China, including arming Taiwan faster, re-assuring allies in the Pacific, and modernizing planes and ships.
Hill told Voice of America that he believes that, like Rubio, Waltz also holds a relatively traditional conservative stance on China. “Choosing Waltz as national security advisor is not surprising. However, Waltz’s rhetoric on Taiwan is not as blunt as Trump’s assertion that Taiwan needs to pay, but rather follows the U.S. government’s consistent ambiguous policy, and it is not explicitly stated what kind of response the U.S. would take if Taiwan were attacked,” he said.
In recent years, Waltz has been a vocal critic of major military actions by the Biden administration, particularly the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan. He has also supported several of Trump’s foreign policy positions, including urging European and NATO allies to assume greater responsibility and military expenses, and opposing unconditional aid to Ukraine. However, Waltz’s approach to NATO is more moderate than Trump’s, emphasizing dialogue with allies and partners.
Hill believes that the hardline stance on China taken by Rubio and Waltz indicates that Trump’s foreign policy towards China will not change easily.
U.N. Ambassador Elise Stefanik: a staunch supporter of Trump
Another addition to Trump’s foreign affairs team is Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who was nominated on November 11 to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. In the nomination statement, the 40-year-old Stefanik is described as “an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter.”
In 2014, Stefanik was elected to represent New York in the House at age 30, becoming the youngest woman ever elected to Congress at the time. In May 2021, Stefanik replaced former House Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney as Republican’s No. 3 leadership position of conference chair, making her the highest ranking Republican woman in Congress, following Cheney’s repeated criticisms of Trump.
A Harvard graduate, Stefanik has always been a strong supporter of Trump. After Trump lost his re-election in 2020, she publicly supported him, opposed the House’s certification of Biden’s victory, and backed the claim of “election fraud.” She also joined over 100 Republican lawmakers in supporting the Texas Attorney General’s lawsuit to the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn Biden’s election results in four key swing states. In 2022, before Trump officially announced his candidacy again, Stefanik had already pledged her support to him.
In Deccember 2023, during a House hearing on campus antisemitism, Stefanik fiercely questioned Ivy League college presidents about their handling of pro-Palestinian protests. She called for the removal of those college presidents who did not condemn anti-Semitism, and criticized the United Nations for not supporting Israel’s military actions against Hamas, calling for a “complete reassessment” of the U.S.’s funding for the U.N.
“This is an important position because U.N. ambassador plays a role in how to deal with other countries. However, this role is not about making policies, and does not have as much flexibility and fame as ambassadors to foreign countries,” Hill said.
Trump 2.0’s hardline approach to China
Liselotte Odgaard, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Voice of America that Trump’s hardline policy towards China received broad support.
“Trump has promised to be tough on China, similar to his first term. One of his achievements was convincing Europe to take a tougher stance on China in trade and security. While he is unlikely to impose a 60% tariff on Chinese imports, as this would severely hurt the U.S. economy and affect imports critical to American manufacturing, he may severely crack down on unfair Chinese trade practices, such as market flooding, and expedite the diversification of strategic resource supply chains away from China,” she said.
“Regardless of who wins the presidential election, the policy towards China will definitely be hawkish,” Hill said. “However, what we need to focus on now is tariffs. Perhaps Trump may not follow through with imposing such high tariffs, it was just words; perhaps he indeed intends to impose tariffs and then risk worsening inflation in the U.S., leading to an economic downturn and deteriorating relations with China. Given the president’s significant discretion over tariff policies, the coming months are likely to provide greater clarity on these issues, along with the future direction of U.S.-China relations.”
