The first foreign trips of new Secretary of State: Latin America at the center of economic and security initiatives against Chinese influence

On February 1, 2025, the first foreign trip of the new US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, began, during which the head of the State Department visited Panama and will also pay visits to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic.

The choice of this route for the first visit of the US top diplomat abroad indicates an adjustment of Washington's foreign policy priorities after Donald Trump's inauguration.

Despite the fact that the United States's highest security priority remains China's containment in the Indo-Pacific, the new Republican team considers countering Chinese expansion in the Indo-Pacific incomplete and insufficiently effective in the face of Beijing's systematic increase in trade, economic, investment, and infrastructure influence in Latin America.