PARIS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Republican losses in the midterm elections will not affect the Trump administration’s approach to foreign policy, with clear differences on global crises emerging among top diplomats from Group of 7 allies who gathered Monday in Paris.
Rubio, who spoke to reporters after talks with his counterparts from the G7 industrialized democracies, said President Donald Trump will decide U.S. policies as he sees
fit, regardless of his Republican Party's wipeout in the midterms. He said Trump is intent on ending conflicts with Iran and between Russia and Ukraine but that the United States will maintain an “America First” approach on the world stage.
“Congress has a role to play in our foreign policy, particularly on what it funds and in its oversight function, but the No. 1 factor in determining foreign policy has always been and will remain the president,” Rubio said.
The Paris meeting is Rubio’s first overseas trip since Democrats seized control of Congress, partly because of deeply unpopular administration policies such as the Iran war. Allies have raised questions this week about whether the Trump administration would shift its positions.
Whether on the Russia-Ukraine war, Iran or the International Criminal Court, the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan appeared far apart as two days of talks got underway, although all agreed on the need to end the conflicts as quickly as possible.
Rubio said the U.S. would not back down on its opposition to the international war crimes court, which the other G7 members belong to but the Trump administration wants to dismantle.
On the Russia-Ukraine war, Rubio declined to offer a prediction about the prospects for talks that begin Tuesday in Abu Dhabi between Russia, Ukraine and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. But he said the Trump administration would keep trying to mediate a deal.
“Your chances of success are zero if you’re not trying, so we’re going to continue to try,” he said.
On the question of artificial intelligence, Rubio said the U.S. opposed efforts to rein in the technology promoted by some G7 members, while acknowledging the need to balance mitigating the dangers the rapidly developing technology poses.
“We’re very concerned about these global institutions trying to regulate something that would stifle innovation,” he said. “We don’t think that’s the right approach from our perspective.”
Although Rubio said the U.S. political situation was not raised in the meetings, several of his colleagues made clear that it was a question that needs to be addressed.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand, whose country has faced withering criticism and insults from Trump, said how Washington will proceed is an open question.
“In terms of the U.S. and its approach, I will say that the president has executive powers,” she told reporters in Paris. “The House and the Senate have changed leadership, so it’s very much a question of what the approach will be.”
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Europe also wanted to see how the midterms would affect U.S. policy.
”The midterm elections showed the will of American people and the elections always bring results also in terms of policy changes,” she told reporters. “We are willing to work with whatever Congress or Senate or administration there is to really focus on the issues that we do together and focus on the issues where we can have maximum impact together.”
Yet there has been little sign that the Democrats’ gains will affect Trump's strategy, and his first major personnel decision has been to install Stephen Miller, a hard-line supporter who has advocated extreme positions on both domestic and foreign policy, as chief of staff.
Rubio is seen by many as presenting a gentler side to Trump’s often brusque approach to both friends and foes, but there has been speculation — which he has denied — that he might choose to leave the administration early to prepare for a 2028 presidential run. He declined again Monday to talk about the 2028 race.
Trump has floated the idea of a partnership with Europe to end Russia's war in Ukraine as the U.S. brokers talks between the sides this week.
Rubio said postwar security guarantees for Ukraine and the rest of Europe have been a top concern for allies. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said “the Europeans are, of course, ready to take part in discussions about the future of security across the continent. But the first step is to end the war.”
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, who met separately with Rubio, said Europe must be part of any resolution.
"I am still very grateful to the United States of America for making every effort to get the parties to the conflict to the table,” Wadephul said. “But I made clear again here that Europe belongs at this table. There can be no solution without Europe, only with Europe.”
Rubio also has said he expects questions from allies about the Iran war. Qatari and other mediators have proposed an interim solution to end the deadlock over a conflict that has sent fuel prices soaring because of instability in key shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz and Red Sea.
Rubio said Sunday the sides were not on “the verge of a breakthrough,” while reiterating that Trump prefers a diplomatic solution. But he noted of diplomacy that “right now, it hasn’t been very productive because the Iranian demands are simply not just unacceptable but, in some cases, outrageous and ridiculous and really not realistic.”
The Trump administration has unsettled G7 partners as it pushes to dismantle the International Criminal Court. It has imposed severe sanctions on the court and several of its employees, saying the ICC is trying to investigate Americans.
“Bottom line is we’re not going to have some American servicemen or American military commander standing trial in some illegitimate court that we’re not a member of,” Rubio said.
The Trump administration is worried about the EU invoking a statute that would immunize European governments, companies and individuals from secondary U.S. sanctions targeting those who support the ICC.
Kallas, the top EU diplomat, defended the ICC and said the bloc was trying to “show our American partners that their worries about the ICC regarding countries are actually not based on the Rome Statute or the regulations." The Rome Statute is the treaty that created the court.
“In this moment, where we see more war crimes across the world committed, we need more accountability, not less,” she said.
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Associated Press writers John Leicester in Paris and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
