Rubio says US, China at 'strategic stability' ahead of Trump trip
US President Donald Trump is set to travel to China from Mar 31 to Apr 2 in his first visit to the country since starting his second term in office.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters in a departure lounge before returning to Washington following meetings with Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders, at Robert L Bradshaw International Airport in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis on Feb 25, 2026. (Photo: Pool via AFP/Jonathan Ernst)
BASSETERRE, Saint Kitts and Nevis: The United States and China have reached "stability" in their long-fractious relationship, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday (Feb 25) ahead of President Donald Trump's visit to the Asian power.
"I think we've reached a point at least of a sort of strategic stability in the relationship," Rubio told reporters.
"I think both countries concluded that having an all-out global trade war between the United States and China would be deeply damaging to both sides and to the world," Rubio said on a visit to the tiny Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Rubio has long been known as a hawk on China, with him and Trump casting the world's second-largest economy as an adversary that needed to be defeated globally.
Rubio said that the United States would keep raising concerns, including seeking to diversify from China's dominance in supply chains.
He also vowed to keep pushing China to negotiate a three-way nuclear deal with the United States and Russia.
A senior US official met with Russia and China in Geneva this week after the expiration of New START, the last remaining treaty between Russia and the United States that limited nuclear warheads.
"They have publicly said they're not willing to do it," Rubio said of China.
"We'll continue to press on it, because we think it would be good for the world if we could reach such an agreement."
China's nuclear arsenal has been growing rapidly, although it remains well below that of Russia and the United States.
Trump is set to travel to China from Mar 31 to Apr 2 in his first visit to the country of his second term.
Rubio indicated he expected to travel with Trump, to whom he is also national security advisor.
In 2020, China imposed sanctions on Rubio, then a senator, over his advocacy for human rights in Hong Kong and among the Uyghur minority.
