Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat down with Fox News Lara Trump for an extensive discussion on his role and responsibilities in the Trump administration.

In the second segment, Rubio actually touched on something many have been curious about regarding his changed perspectives and positions.  It is still annoying that no one has ever asked him directly, ‘why have your views changed so dramatically in the past two years, and/or are you just playing a role.‘

The two video segments and transcript are below:

[Transcript] – QUESTION: Secretary, great to have you back. Thank you so much.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Glad to be back. It’s been a while.

QUESTION: Yeah. There’s so much to talk about, but I want to start with Cuba.

SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.

QUESTION: This has been of particular interest to the State Department right now. You guys released a 100-page report on Cuba, calling it, “The Capital of 21st Century Communism.” And this report talks about the fact that Cuba’s goal essentially is to erase the United States from the Earth. It also details a Cuban spy network that’s been undermining American interests. How did we get to a place where Cuba has become so much of a threat – it feels like again – to the United States?

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During an episode of Day Break, Steve Gruber holds an extensive interview with President Trump for a wide-ranging conversation on election integrity, American manufacturing, national security, faith, energy, and the future of the nation.

In this interview, President Trump discusses:

• -The fight to secure America’s elections and the push for voter ID
• -Restoring confidence in the electoral process
• -The rise of socialist and DSA-backed candidates and what it could mean for America’s future
• -Bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States
• -His recent visit to Michigan’s GM Proving Ground and the resurgence of American industry
• -Strengthening domestic supply chains through rare earth production and projects like REAlloy
• -Making America the world’s leading energy producer
• -Anthony Fauci’s refusal to answer questions before Congress
• -The creation of the U.S. Space Force and plans for the Golden Dome missile defense system
• -National security challenges facing the Western Hemisphere
• -Faith in America, the White House Faith Office, and protecting religious liberty

The conversation also explores why President Trump’s message continues to resonate with working families, blue-collar communities, and voters across Michigan and what many call “Forgotten America.”

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A Canadian intern at NATO military headquarters in Belgium was arrested for espionage.  The name of the intern is Chinese, but to protect the Canadian government from embarrassment the nation the woman was spying for remains undisclosed.  Go figure.

The Chinese influence operations within Canadian government and politics is a subject that has been disclosed over the past few years with a great deal of consternation inside Canada.   The intern was within the SHAPE operation.

SHAPE is a strategic headquarters. Its role is to prepare, plan, conduct and execute NATO military operations, missions and tasks in order to achieve the strategic objectives of the Alliance. {Source}

SHAPE is the tip of the NATO spear on what’s called Forward Land Forces (FLF), currently operating in Eastern Europe on a mission to support the Ukraine military objectives. {SOURCE}

So, this Chinese spy from Canada was operating inside the NATO military operation that was supporting the weapon supply system for Ukraine.

(NYT) – The authorities in Belgium said on Saturday that a Canadian intern at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military headquarters had been arrested on suspicion of spying for another country.

The Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office said the woman was “of Chinese origin” and was arrested on Friday. “She is suspected of spying on behalf of a third country and of being a member of a criminal organization,” it said in a statement, which did not identify the country or the criminal organization.

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There is a level of no-so-subtle pretense within this messaging from President Trump that is not good.

As noted in this Truth Social message, President Trump notes it is unlikely that people around Chairman Xi and people around President Putin would be providing military, logistics, targeting or weapons support for Iran for the same reason President Trump is not providing military, logistics, targeting or weapons support to Ukraine.

TRUTH SOCIAL – “President Xi, at our recent meeting in Beijing, China, told me that he would not, under any circumstances, give or sell Weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran — And that statement included Chinese Companies. Considering our relationship, I take him at his word and, besides, l am doing him very big favors, also.

Likewise, President Putin, despite the horrible War going on in Ukraine (The relationship remains, as it does with President Zelenskyy), told me that he would not sell Weapons to Iran. He understands that I do not sell Weapons to Ukraine, but to NATO Countries. They pay full price, and how those Weapons are distributed, I have no idea.

Therefore, two major Countries that people speak of often in terms of Iran are, in my opinion, not participating. If they did, it would be very bad for them — Certainly not in their best interests. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” ~President DONALD J. TRUMP

I strongly doubt non-pretending Russian President Vladimir Putin draws a distinction between the U.S. sending drone technology and missiles to Ukraine -vs- the U.S. sending drones and military technology to NATO Germany for forwarding to Ukraine.

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In his most recent outline, Promethean Action PAC’s Mike Steger puts the U.S-Canada trade conflict into an accurate context where China is really the enterprise to gain or fail.  This is a very well presented segment worth watching.

CTH readers will note our long track of this dynamic.  In short, as NAFTA predictably evolved, and as the U.S. manufacturing base was deconstructed, suddenly things shifted.  Canada and Mexico became important as entry doors into the U.S. consumer market for the products outsourced by the destruction of the American manufacturing base.

Steger appropriately uses the auto-sector as an example because it is the easiest sector to quantify damage.  By playing the long game, China has thoroughly compromised the EU and U.K auto market. In 2025 China exported 1.2 million vehicles into Europe. Europe only exported 200,000 vehicles into China; a net trade deficit of 1 million vehicles in Beijing’s favor.

Chinese cars now represent over ten percent of all EU vehicles on the road, and this is only the beginning stage of the collapse of the EU industrial base that Germany and Brussels have only recently started to grasp.  The pace is irreversible at this point for Europe, and now China has turned their attention toward Canada.   This is why the U.S-Canada trade conflict matters!

Canada is the entryway to do in North America what China has done in Europe. WATCH:

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In the graph below, look at how fast things move once the foothold is established by policy.  This is stunning.

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As expected, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has completed the Section 301 review of “forced labor practices” in manufacturing and trade. [USTR Announcement Here]

As a result of the findings, a tariff rate of 10% to 12.5% is being added to the goods from a host of countries evaluated.  These 301 duties are in addition to currently existing tariff rates. [FACT SHEET] Trading partners that have made commitments to adopt, and effectively enforce, forced labor import prohibitions will have a 10% tariff, and trading partners that have failed to adopt a forced labor import prohibition will have a 12.5% tariff rate.

• The following 54 economies have failed to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor:

Algeria; Angola; Argentina; Australia; the Bahamas; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Brazil; Cambodia; Chile; China, People’s Republic of; Colombia; Costa Rica; Dominican Republic; Egypt; El Salvador; Guatemala; Guyana; Honduras; Hong Kong, China; India; Iraq; Israel; Japan; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kuwait; Libya; Malaysia; Morocco; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Nigeria; Norway; Oman; Peru; the Philippines; Qatar; Russia; Saudi Arabia; Singapore; South Africa; South Korea; Sri Lanka; Switzerland; Taiwan; Thailand; Trinidad and Tobago; Türkiye; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; Uruguay; Venezuela; and Vietnam.

• The following six economies have failed to effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor:

Canada, Ecuador, the European Union, Indonesia, Mexico, and Pakistan.

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Following discussions at the 2026 ASEAN Summit in Manilla, Philippines, Secretary of State Marco Rubio answers questions from the media on a variety of current issues and events.

Secretary Rubio noted considerable discussions with Chinese officials on the upcoming state visit by Chairman Xi Jinping in September.  Additional questions surrounded the ongoing conflict with Iran.  WATCH: 

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As President Trump’s doctrine continues to unfold, foreign sovereign policy becomes more important.  Secretary Rubio notes the importance of high-level contacts and communication between global powers like USA, China and Russia as things unfold.

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President Trump was asked about his Thursday 9:00pm ET presidential address to the nation on “election integrity” and other matters.  President Trump responded today by saying the announcement is “really big news, it’s really, really big news, and our country has to shape up.”  WATCH:

The general chatter amid the various DC interests and specific subject matter experts who seemingly have information and knowledge of the matter suggests the content of the election integrity aspect will be to highlight how Chinese interests have worked within our body politic to influence U.S. elections.

There will likely be specific citations, particularly to election investigations in Michigan, but generally the international aspect revolves mostly around China with some ancillary information about Venezuela.  CCP organizations also have compromising information on members of congress which will likely be highlighted and raise eyebrows.

President Trump will be joined in the event by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte, FBI Director Kash Patel, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and others.  However, caution should be noted as newly appointed Special Government Employee John Solomon is responsible for the content.

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The European auto industry is a case study on how short-sighted trade policy goals, results in consequences.

Previously, German auto companies like Volkswagen entered into trade agreements with China and began manufacturing their vehicles with immediate financial success in the market.  However, it did not take long for Chinese auto companies to reverse the engineering and begin to deliver the same quality vehicles at much lower prices.

The Chinese then stop purchasing the Volkswagen vehicles and purchase the cheaper version, while simultaneously begin exporting those same vehicles into the home market from where the technology originated.

Today, with a double-digit decline in production, Volkswagen announces they will cut almost half of their models due to diminished sales.

BLOOMBERG – BERLIN — Volkswagen reported weak sales numbers on Friday, a day after the giant German automaker announced plans to slash the number of models by nearly half as sales plunged, particularly in China.

The Wolfsburg, Germany-based company said group sales fell 8.6 per cent in the second quarter to just under 2.1 million vehicles, with sales in China alone plummeted by more than one-third.

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This next storyline needs context to understand appropriately what just happened.

In February of this year, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz travelled for the first time in his business and life to China. Merz a lawyer by training, worked in business and corporate life doing mergers and acquisitions (Blackrock), but had never been to China.  Despite his upward climb in German politics, his worldview was always dominated by an internal acceptance that Germany was the industrial heart of the European Union.

Chancellor Merz believed that Germany was unrivaled within industrial manufacturing, particularly in aeronautics and mechanical engineering (auto sector).  So, when Merz went to China -while he held no trade capabilities as an outcome of the EU collective controlling everything- he also had no idea what Chinese industrial capacitary actually looked like.

To say Chancellor Merz was stunned by the advancements in robotics and industrial manufacturing within China would be an understatement.  Merz was shocked not only by the technological capability, but also by the Chinese industrial work ethic and capabilities of the workforce.

Merz returned to Germany and immediately began discussing how Chinese industrial capacity was far beyond anything he previously estimated.  Merz was shook.  His reaction was, essentially, the #1 industrial nation within the EU confronting a reality of years of industrial complacency.  Immediately he began talking about how things in Germany must change; how the German workforce must immediately start to get serious about productivity and production capacity.

That was late February and early March.

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