US President-elect Donald Trump announced new members of his incoming administration on Monday and was expected to pick Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state.
Both Rubio and Congressman Michael Waltz, who has been lined up for the powerful National Security Advisor role, have notably hawkish views on China, which they see as a threat and challenge to US economic and military might.
The two appointees, both from Florida, would be key architects of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, with the incoming president having promised to end the wars raging in Ukraine and the Middle East, and avoid any more US military entanglements.
The 78-year-old Republican tycoon has vowed his second stint in power will result in a radical shake-up of the federal government.
Trump announced immigration official Tom Homan as the country’s “border czar” on Monday, tasking him with fulfilling his key domestic promise of mass deportations of undocumented migrants.
In a further announcement, Trump’s team said Lee Zeldin, an early political ally, would be proposed as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief with a mandate to slash climate and pollution regulations that are considered red tape by businesses.
‘Turnaround ‘Donald Trump has just announced that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is his nominee to be the US ambassador to Israel.
Huckabee, an evangelical pastor and former Fox News host, ran for president in 2008 and in 2016.
His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, served as a Trump White House press secretary and is the sitting governor of Arkansas
