# Marco Rubio on US Foreign Policy and National Interests - Original post: https://www.twitter.com/i/status/2121704787108417948 - Source account: [@ClaudioBorghi](https://x.com/ClaudioBorghi) - Source language: English - Duration: 4:46 - Published: 2026-11-14 - Canonical URL: https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests ## Transcript [0:00](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests) and I'm currently a 3L at the University of Texas. [0:03](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=3) Recently in Greece- We beat Texas this year, Florida, okay? [0:07](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=7) Okay? I am a Florida grad as well. We, we, we also lost to a couple other than... [0:12](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=12) I'm sorry. Go ahead. It's not your fault. [0:14](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=14) You don't-- you're not on the team, so I'm not... [0:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=18) Recently in Greece, you spoke on the balance between our nation's domestic sovereignty and our international security demands as a leader of the Western world. [0:27](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=27) How can the administration adequately address both of these needs without forfeiting the support of the American electorate, which has clearly expressed a focus on domestic concerns? [0:37](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=37) Yeah, they're interrelated, but they're always going to be... [0:39](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=39) Look, let me start with this. I think the job of America's government and its leaders is to work for Americans. I mean, that sounds kind of strange, but in the realm of foreign policy, we've almost lost it. [0:49](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=49) But we've also lost it in the realm of economics. [0:52](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=52) These are my personal views, but I've argued them in writing, I've argued them in speeches. [0:55](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=55) I think there came a point in which we forgot, like the end of the Cold War, um, everybody thought, "Okay, the whole world is now going to become free enterprise democracies." [1:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=65) And it just didn't work out that way. It was never going to work out that way. [1:09](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=69) The second is we placed this confidence in the markets, in global markets, and basically saying, "It's okay if a bunch of jobs leave our country and relocate somewhere else. They'll make it cheaper over there, which means prices will be cheaper over here." [1:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=80) Which is true, the prices will be cheaper over here, but you just wiped out a bunch of jobs, gutted a bunch of communities, and now you have a bunch of people that don't feel like they can move forward. [1:28](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=88) All of this happened because we lost our focus. [1:29](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=89) We forgot that our job is... We're not against the world. [1:32](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=92) We're not to-- our job is not to harm the world, but our number one objective must always be what's in the national interest of the United States, and we shouldn't feel guilty about it, okay? [1:41](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=101) Next week, I will get on an airplane with the president, and we will fly, for example, to the Philippines for the ASEAN conference, and then we will fly to China for the APEC conference. [1:49](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=109) And I was asked by a reporter the other day, well, something about a disagreement we have with China, and I said, "Look, the Chinese government is in favor of what's good for China, and they don't apologize for it." [1:59](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=119) We are the only country in the world that seems to have forgotten that. [2:02](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=122) I'm on the American side of every issue. [2:13](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=133) And, and that I even, that I even have to say that is stunning. [2:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=138) But think about it, the fact that I even have to say that is stunning. [2:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=140) I always remind people, I am the Secretary of State of the United States, not the... [2:24](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=144) There was a huge outrage, you know, I-- we did, uh, we have these flags at the State Department when you walk in, and we had all these flags of all these different countries, and I-- look, I didn't go in with like a crusade to remove the flags. [2:35](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=155) We left it there for a year and a half, but then for America 250, we made them all American flags, okay? [2:40](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=160) And then we left them there after 250, and people are going crazy, "Oh my God, they're abandoning the world." [2:43](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=163) I said, "No, we're not the United Nations. [2:45](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=165) Take the flag. The United Nations can have all those flags." [2:48](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=168) It's the State Department of the United States. [2:53](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=173) And so, [2:59](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=179) so the way I view it is that what, what we need to do on... [3:02](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=182) I, I think your question was probably geared towards more why is the United States involved in things around the world? [3:06](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=186) Well, we have to be involved in things around the world because whether we're involved in the world or not, the world will be involved with us. There are things happening in other countries and in other places that do have an impact on the national security of the United States, [3:18](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=198) but-- and our economic interests as well. [3:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=200) We can make the greatest products in the world, but if we don't have markets that are open to us, as an example, that's going to be a problem. [3:26](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=206) We can-- if, if, if there's instability and insecurity in our hemisphere, we will eventually have migratory pressures, because this administration has made the decision that it's going to protect our borders, but the next administration may not. [3:41](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=221) And so, I would argue that America is safer and better off if we are surrounded by countries that are stable, safe, and prosperous. [3:47](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=227) But ultimately... [3:50](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=230) And we should do things in our policy because it's in our national interest, but in the end, on any topic, the number one question we have to always ask ourselves is, what is in the best interest of the United States? [4:01](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=241) And we had-- not only have we forgotten it, we've actually abandoned it for far too long. [4:05](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=245) And I think this administration is re- returning to that idea, and that's how we try to pursue it. [4:10](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=250) Again, that doesn't mean we don't meet with other countries, and it doesn't mean we don't work with other countries, because oftentimes when our national interests align with the interest of another country, that's where you build alliances. [4:20](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=260) When your national interests are in conflict with other countries, that's where the work of diplomacy happens, to see how you can balance the two. [4:27](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=267) But in the end, if we can't balance it, I know whose side we need to be on, and that is on the side of our people, our country, our economy, and our security. [4:34](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=274) And, and I think that every nation governs itself that way. [4:36](https://www.translate.mom/transcript/oxLqMqDyUGs1/en/marco-rubio-on-us-foreign-policy-and-national-interests?t=276) We forgot it, and we're restoring it.