By Daphne Psaledakis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Mexico and Ecuador next week, the State Department said on Thursday, as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to crack down on illegal immigration to the U.S., combat drug cartels and counter Chinese influence in Latin America.
Rubio, the first Latino U.S. secretary of state, visited Central America and the Caribbean in his first overseas trip as Washington’s top diplomat earlier this year.
Trump has imposed hardline immigration policies, sought to tackle cartels and launched a global trade war with tariffs that target individual products and countries.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said the U.S. and Mexico are nearing a security agreement to expand cooperation against cartels. But she has rejected suggestions by the Trump administration that it could carry out unilateral military operations in Mexico.
President Daniel Noboa has sought to combat an upsurge in gang violence in Ecuador and has been a partner for the Trump administration in seeking to reduce illegal immigration.
A senior State Department official told reporters that while Ecuador had made progress in certain aspects on immigration, there were issues to discuss, including how to handle people from third countries who cannot return to their home country.
“We’re talking to lots of countries about those kinds of issues, and Ecuador will be one,” the official said, but added Washington was “not necessarily” seeking a third country national deal with Ecuador.
The official said countering China’s influence in the region was also a priority, including ensuring that China does not use Mexico as a trade backdoor to the United States.
Rubio will meet both presidents and his counterparts on the trip, the official said.
While not strictly Rubio’s portfolio, Trump’s tariff policies are also likely to come up in his talks.
Mexico in July was able to avoid 30% tariffs on its shipments to the U.S., securing a 90-day pause to work on a trade deal.
But it is still subject to 25% fentanyl tariffs, though goods sent under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement – which are most of them – are exempt.
Ecuador has also been hit with 15% tariffs.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Alistair Bell)
