Rubio’s 36-Hour Trip to Asia Left U.S. Allies Wanting More

Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives a media briefing during a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—The U.S.’s Asian allies had hoped Marco Rubio’s first visit to the region as secretary of state would give them time to press their concerns on the Trump administration’s tariff threats and security demands. They got him for 36 hours.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim joked about his desire to get more of Rubio’s time, echoing other leaders in the region, as he greeted the top U.S. diplomat. “Can I take his passport away?”

What was intended to be a three-country tour to reassure anxious U.S. allies was cut short, so Rubio could attend meetings earlier this week at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He skipped visits to Japan and South Korea, heading directly to Malaysia to meet with foreign ministers at a regional summit.

Then, once he arrived there, his visit was dominated by high-stakes meetings with Rubio’s Russian and Chinese counterparts. He spent time with officials from Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, and Vietnam and squeezed in brief sidebars with others, but the spotlight remained on uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs and geopolitical flashpoints outside the region.

Rubio described his meeting with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, as productive after meeting him for the first time on Friday. Negotiations between the two countries are at the center of President Trump’s effort to reshape global trade.

“This was not a warning-type meeting,” Rubio said, calling it “very constructive.” He added that the “odds were high” for a meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

China’s Foreign Ministry described the meeting in a similar tone, saying it was “positive, pragmatic and constructive.” Wang told Rubio that Beijing hopes the U.S. will view China with “an objective, rational and pragmatic attitude,” the ministry said.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shakes hands with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio, in remarks to foreign ministers Thursday, sought to address concerns that wars in the Middle East and Ukraine had pulled U.S. attention away from Asia. He described the Indo-Pacific as a “focal point” of the Trump administration’s policy.

“I would say distraction is impossible,” Rubio said at the meeting, hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean. “This century, and the story of the next 50 years, will largely be written here in this region.”

But as he pressed Trump’s agenda—calling on partners to boost defense budgets and align against China—Rubio also found himself forced to defend Trump’s punishing new tariffs. He arrived in Kuala Lumpur just after the president sent letters to the leaders of more than 20 countries—including eight of the 10 Asean members—threatening tariffs of up to 40% if no trade deals are reached by Aug. 1.

“This is no passing storm,” Anwar said about the looming trade war at the opening of the annual meeting. “It is the new weather of our time.”

Rubio, who emphasized in meetings that he isn’t in charge of U.S. trade negotiations, sought to play down Trump’s threats as broader negotiations and insisted they weren’t meant to alienate allies.

“I would say that when all is said and done, many of the countries in Southeast Asia are going to have tariff rates that are actually better than countries in other parts of the world,” Rubio said.

In recent months, Asian allies have been “hearing different things from different cabinet members, so they’re quite frustrated,” said Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade negotiator and now vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute. “The trade stuff is dominating the agenda, focused on squeezing other countries for concessions and giving little in return.”

Meanwhile, Rubio’s Chinese counterpart sought to draw a contrast by portraying Beijing as a better partner than Washington, criticizing “unilateral protectionism and the abuse of tariffs by a certain major country.”

Wang, China’s top diplomat, hammered home that message in separate meetings on Thursday with counterparts from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, according to China’s Foreign Ministry.

“The U.S. is wantonly imposing tariffs, damaging the free-trade system, and disrupting the stability of global production and supply chains,” Wang told the Thai foreign minister, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Wang told his Malaysian counterpart that the U.S. tariffs on Asean countries represent “a typical act of unilateral bullying.”

Rubio also met Friday for about 40 minutes with Japan and South Korea, which face 25% tariffs from the U.S. on Aug. 1. Both Tokyo and Seoul—export-heavy economies already hit by levies on autos, steel and aluminum—face backlash at home over the potential U.S. levies.

Shipping containers in Qingdao, China. Beijing has sought to portray itself as a more reliable partner than the U.S., in light of Washington’s tariffs.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Japan faces a 25% tariffs from the U.S. from Aug. 1.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said this week his country needs to become more independent of the U.S. on security, energy and food and vowed: “We will not be taken advantage of.”

Asked about these comments, Rubio cast them in a positive light. “The idea that Japan’s military would become more capable is not something we would be offended by,” he said. “It’s something we would actually be encouraged by.”

Similarly, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on a visit to the region in May that the U.S. was embracing what he called a “tough love” approach with its allies in the Indo-Pacific, which he called a “priority theater.”

Meanwhile, a spokesman for South Korea’s ruling party said, “An alliance is only meaningful when it is based on mutual respect.”

Asian allies appreciated that despite the distractions, Rubio had made the trip, said Brian McFeeters, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia from 2021 to 2023 and currently serves as CEO of the US-ASEAN Business Council.

“The tariffs have taken a lot of the oxygen, but they haven’t taken all the oxygen,” McFeeters said.