Focusing China, Trump builds hawkish team

WASHINGTON:

US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen a pair of establishment Republicans from Florida for senior roles in his administration as he builds a national security team that looks more hawkish than the isolationist America First brand of foreign policy that he has championed in public.

Trump on Tuesday confirmed his pick of Mike Waltz, a former US special forces officer and a noted foreign policy hawk, for the influential role of national security advisor.

Trump was expected to select the senator Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, the US's top diplomat, and has asked the congressman Mike Waltz, a retired Green Beret known as a China hawk, to become his national security adviser, a powerful role that would help shape his policies on the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as around the world.

Trump announced immigration official Tom Homan as the country's "border czar", tasking him with fulfilling his key domestic promise of mass deportations of undocumented migrants.

US media also reported that Stephen Miller, the author of Trump's so-called "Muslim ban" immigration policy during his first term, was set to be his deputy chief of staff with a broad portfolio.

New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a hardline defender of Israel, got the nod for UN ambassador, Trump's transition team said in a statement.

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.

Trump is known to demand total personal loyalty from his aides and cabinet picks, with those chosen all having defended him and supported his unfounded claims of election fraud after his defeat to outgoing President Joe Biden in 2020.

The likely nomination of Rubio, which was reported by US outlets The New York Times, The Washington Post and Politico, would cap a remarkable turnaround in relations between the two men.

In 2016, when they were competing for the Republican presidential nomination, Rubio called Trump a "con artist" and the "most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency."

Rubio, who is of Cuban heritage, first made his name in foreign policy as a vociferous opponent of Cuba and its leftist allies in Latin America, particularly Venezuela.

He has since become one of the most outspoken senators against Beijing, seeking to make it more difficult for Chinese firms to operate in the United States and leading congressional efforts to punish China on human rights grounds over its treatment of the Uyghur minority.

Asked Tuesday about the reported picks of Waltz and Rubio, Beijing said it would not comment on "personnel appointments."

"China's stance toward the US is consistent and clear," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular briefing.

Rubio has also advocated for increased US sanctions on Iran over its nuclear infrastructure.

"Border czar" Homan, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under Trump during his first term, is a long-time defender of the so-called "Make America Great Again" agenda