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- Rubio to make first visit to Indo-Pacific region for ASEAN meeting</p>
<p>July 7, 2025 at 9:17 PM</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Malaysia later this week to attend a meeting of Southeast Asian Nations in his first visit to the Indo-Pacific region as America's top diplomat, the State Department said in a statement.</p>
<p>Rubio will travel July 8-12 and will take part in meetings in Kuala Lumpur with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose ministers are gathering there, the State Department said.</p>
<p>Rubio will seek to firm up U.S. relationships with partners and allies in the region, who have been unnerved by President Donald Trump's global tariff offensive.</p>
<p>The trip is part of a renewed U.S. focus on the Indo-Pacific and represents an effort by the Trump administration to look beyond the conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have so far consumed much of its attention.</p>
<p>Last week, Rubio hosted counterparts from Australia, India and Japan and announced a joint initiative to ensure supply of critical minerals, a vital sector for high-tech applications dominated by Washington's main strategic rival China.</p>
<p>Trump also announced he reached a trade agreement with important Southeast Asian partner and ASEAN member Vietnam and could reach one with India, but cast doubt on a possible deal with Japan, Washington's main Indo-Pacific ally and a major importer and investor in the United States.</p>
<p>Rubio has yet to visit Japan, or neighboring South Korea, the other major U.S. ally in Northeast Asia, since taking office in January, even though Washington sees the Indo-Pacific as its main strategic priority given the perceived threat posed by China.</p>
<p>ASEAN countries have been nervous about Trump's tariff offensive and have questioned the willingness of his "America First" administration to fully engage diplomatically and economically with the region.</p>
<p>"There is a hunger to be reassured that the U.S. actually views the Indo-Pacific as the primary theater of U.S. interests, key to U.S. national security," said Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.</p>
<p>Other ASEAN countries may be encouraged by Vietnam's deal with Trump.</p>
<p>"This should smooth the way for continued pragmatic security engagement between the U.S. and Vietnam, and hopefully provide a pathway for others in Southeast Asia to get similar deals without having to give up much," Poling said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and David Brunnstrom; additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Katharine Jackson; Editing by Don Durfee and Chizu Nomiyama )</p>
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