US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Paris from November 8 to 10 for a meeting of Group of Seven foreign ministers, the State Department said on Friday — his first trip abroad since Republicans' sweeping losses in this week's midterm elections.
Official portrait of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photo: US Department of State, public domain.
First Trip Since the Midterms
Rubio will "advance American interests in engagements with his G7 counterparts," the State Department said in a brief statement announcing the trip. The visit will be the top US diplomat's first overseas travel since American voters handed control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives to the Democratic Party on Tuesday, a rebuke of President Donald Trump and his Republican Party.
France moved the meeting of the G7 — the informal grouping of wealthy nations that also includes Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan — from Marseille to Paris at the last minute amid nationwide protests.
What's on the Agenda
The Paris agenda is expected to centre on global security, with the wars in Ukraine and Iran at the top of the list, alongside Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. France has invited Brazil, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine to take part in some sessions, and a separate session on support for Ukraine is also due to take place. France has indicated the talks will again avoid a joint communique, a sign of how divided the group remains on several major issues.
Rubio is expected to face questions from allies about whether Trump will soften his foreign policy after Tuesday's losses. European governments have been concerned by changes in US policy on Ukraine, including scaled-back military assistance, and by Trump's recent deal to import Russian diesel — a move that has angered Kyiv and European partners while Moscow continues its war.
A Test for US Diplomacy
The trip comes as Rubio has moved to quash speculation about his own future. On Thursday he rejected reports that he would leave the Trump administration to run for president, telling the New York Times that serving Trump until the end of his term "has always been my plan."
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed hope that the Democratic gains in Congress will bring more help for Kyiv, and Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff has said Washington will bring Ukrainian and Russian delegations together in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11 to discuss ending the war. How Rubio handles the Paris talks — and what he hears from allies — will be an early test of whether the administration's foreign policy shifts after the midterm defeat.
Sources: Reuters, US State Department.