Trump To Name China Skeptics Mike Waltz and Marco Rubio to Top Jobs

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to tap Florida Senator Marco Rubio as his nominee to become America's next top diplomat, according to reports—a selection likely to set a tough tone on relations with China from the outset.

The New York Times cited three sources familiar with Trump's thinking who expressed confidence that the 45th and soon-to-be 47th president had settled on Rubio.

The two were rivals during the contentious 2016 Republican presidential primaries, during which Trump gave Rubio the epithet "Little Marco." Trump considered him for the role of running mate, a position ultimately filled by JD Vance, Rubio's Senate colleague from Ohio.

President-elect Donald Trump watches as Senator Marco Rubio speaks at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. Trump is believed to have decided on Rubio as his nominee for secretary of state. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Newsweek reached out to the Chinese embassy in the U.S., the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and the Trump campaign via emailed requests for a response.

Rubio has been an outspoken critic of China during his time in the Senate.

He cosponsored bipartisan legislation supporting the international standing of Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China has vowed to unify with, by force if necessary.

He also cosponsored legislation banning imports suspected to be made with forced labor in China's Xinjiang, as well as a bill requiring the U.S. government to report on human rights abuses in the majority-Muslim region. Chinese officials there have been accused of detaining as many as 1 million people in internment camps, which Beijing insists were reeducation camps.

Rubio was among the U.S. lawmakers Beijing targeted with tit-for-tat sanctions in 2020 over his criticism of the situation Xinjiang and China's crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong.

In September, Rubio introduced legislation to close loopholes to prevent China, Russia, and other U.S. adversaries from circumventing tariffs.

Trump has already asked Representative Michael Waltz, a retired Green Beret and National Guard colonel representing Florida's Sixth District, to replace outgoing National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan if confirmed by the upper chamber.

Michael Waltz is also a known China hawk, having earlier this year sounded the alarm over China's growing influence in the Western Hemisphere.

He also supports expediting weapons exports to Taiwan to help it better defend against potential Chinese aggression. "We must learn from Ukraine by addressing the threat of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) and arming Taiwan NOW before it's too late," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in May.

Although the U.S, like most countries, does not officially recognize Taiwan diplomatically, it is the island democracy's main supplier of arms, which Washington has sold for decades under the Taiwan Relations Act. These arms sales rile China, which considers them a violation of its sovereignty.

"Senator Rubio is one of Washington's most levelheaded, strategic thinkers on countering the Chinese Communist Party," said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council and author of Countering China's Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance, in an interview with Newsweek.

As for Waltz, Sobolik called him one of the House's "most focused members on the issue" and observed he has "worked consistently" on the behalf of political prisoners in the country.

"President-elect Trump's picks for Treasury and Commerce will be telling, but early indications suggest tough days ahead for Beijing," Sobolik added.

Eric Hontz, of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-affiliated Center for International Private Enterprise in Washington, D.C, said he expects both appointments to mark a fresh approach to China relations.

"I think their legislative track record of viewing the Chinese Communist Party as a hybrid political-economic power will allow for horizontal thinking about new tools of economic statecraft," he told Newsweek. "Their leadership on drawing attention to supply chain resilience and pursuing bipartisan legislation in coordination with a wide variety of stakeholders, including importantly the private sector, bodes well for innovative approaches to complex problems."

State-backed Chinese private media outlet Guancha wrote that Rubio was "arguably the most hawkish" of the candidates considered for secretary of state, calling him the "anti-China vanguard."

Trump has also tapped Elise Stefanik of New York's 21st Congressional District as his pick for the next ambassador to the United Nations, a post soon to be vacated by Linda Thomas-Greenfield.