<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, congratulated Marco Rubio on Tuesday after the United States Senate unanimously confirmed his appointment as US Secretary of State in the new Administration of Donald Trump.</strong></h4> “Congratulations Marco Rubio on your confirmation as Secretary of State of the United States,” Albares declared through social networks. “Let us continue working on our strategic bilateral relationship and build on transatlantic unity to address common challenges,” he added. Born in Miami, the son of Cuban immigrants and a senator for Florida, Marco Rubio becomes the first Hispanic to head the US Secretary of State. In 2016 he even stood for the Republican primaries for the presidential elections, in which Donald Trump himself finally stood. In his interventions in the Senate, Rubio has always shown himself to be a “hawk,” a supporter of toughening policy with China and Iran and of imposing sanctions on Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. Likewise, although in 2022 he strongly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in recent times he has opposed the sending of new weapons to this country and has openly supported a peace process that would end the war in exchange for concessions from both parties, including Kyiv's renunciation of the territories annexed by Russia. Rubio's appointment and Albares' congratulations come hours after Donald Trump threatened to impose a "one hundred percent" trade tariff on Spain on the grounds that "it is a BRICS nation." BRICS is made up of several emerging economies. Its name comes from its founding partners, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Other countries are also part of the group, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran and Indonesia. Donald Trump took office on Monday as the 47th president of the United States. Following the ceremony, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez congratulated him on his return to the White House and expressed his desire to “work with the new United States Administration to strengthen the strategic relationship between our countries and address common global challenges.” For his part, Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares declared that the Spanish Government’s objective is to have “the best possible relationship with the United States” while continuing to defend its “interests and values.”
