SECRETARY RUBIO: I'll do it in English, then in Spanish. I mean, first of all, it's great to visit here. This is - 25 percent of our capacity to fix airplanes in the Western Hemisphere, you're standing in the place that does it. And this is the kind of development that you need not just to prevent migration but to build a middle class in countries around the world, all driven by the private sector. It's one of the reasons why I wanted to come here - very friendly investment climate. President Bukele, who I've known for a long time, has done an excellent job of providing security and stability. This would not be possible without that and has invited not just the existence of these companies, which has been here for a long time, but it's growth, it's expansion. And if you look at the jobs, these are the kinds of jobs we want to be creating in the United States as well. These are great, good-paying jobs, skills. And it's the kind of thing that you hope to see more of, but all over the hemisphere. So it's a great, impressive place to visit.
(In Spanish.)
I'll take a couple of questions because I - I know we're off schedule already, but —
QUESTION: Can you tell us about USAID, what's happening at USAID and how that affects (inaudible)?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, look, I mean, my frustration with USAID goes back to my time in Congress. It's a completely unresponsive agency. It's supposed to respond to policy directives at the State Department and it refuses to do so. So the functions of USAID - there are a lot of functions of USAID that are going to continue, that are going to be part of American foreign policy, but it has to be aligned with American foreign policy.
I said very clearly when we - during my confirmation hearing that every dollar we spend and every program we fund, that will be aligned with the national interests of the United States. And USAID has a history of sort of ignoring that and deciding that they're somehow a global charity separate from the national interest. These are taxpayer dollars.
And so I'm very troubled by these reports that they have been unwilling to cooperate with people who are asking simple questions about what does this program do, who gets the money, who are our contractors, who's funded. And that sort of level of insubordination makes it impossible to conduct the sort of mature and serious review that I think foreign aid writ large should have. We're spending taxpayer money here. These are not donor dollars. These are taxpayer dollars, and we owe the American people the - the assurances that every dollar we are spending abroad is being spent on something that furthers our national interest. And so far, a lot of the people that work at USAID have just simply refused to cooperate.
QUESTION: Are you currently in charge of USAID? Are you acting —
SECRETARY RUBIO: I'm the acting director of USAID. I've delegated that authority to someone, but I stay in touch with him. And again, our goal was to go in and align our foreign aid to the national interest. But if you go to mission after mission and embassy after embassy around the world, you will often find that in many cases USAID is involved in programs that run counter to what we're trying to do in our national strategy with that country or with that region. That cannot continue.
USAID is not an independent nongovernmental entity. It is an entity that spends taxpayer dollars and it needs to spend it, as the statute says, in alignment with the policy directives that they get from the Secretary of State, the National Security Council, and the President. And it's been 20 or 30 years where people have tried to reform it, and it refuses to reform, it refuses to cooperate. When we were in Congress we couldn't even get answers to basic questions about programs. That will not continue. That's not going to continue.
QUESTION: Elon Musk just called it a terrorist organization. Do you believe that?
SECRETARY RUBIO: I've articulated to you my challenges with it, and they go back to my time in Congress. We would ask them questions - who does this program fund, who gets the money - we won't tell you, don't need to tell you, we're apolitical. Look, American foreign policy isn't apolitical. American foreign policy is to - is to further the interests of the United States. If someone wants to spend apolitical dollars, they should spend private dollars. Go start a charity and you can fund anyone you want. But if you're going to spend taxpayer money, then you need to spend it in furtherance of the national interests of the United States. That's exactly what I said at my confirmation hearing. And this is not my frustration. This frustration has existed now for almost a quarter century and two - multiple administrations that have gone through this challenge. It's going to stop and it's going to end.
QUESTION: Can you tell us a little bit about the canal conversation you had with the Panamanian president yesterday? Are you —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, we had a frank conversation. What I —
QUESTION: Right. But I mean —
SECRETARY RUBIO: What I expressed to President Mulino, who - look, he's a friend of America. He is. He is a friend of America. Panama is a strong partner and ally of the United States.
As the President has articulated, when we turned over the canal we turned it over to Panama. We didn't turn it over to China. So you get there, and the Chinese control both entries to the port, both entries to the port. We have a treaty obligation to protect the canal if it comes under attack, but our Navy is paying fees to go through there.
So I expressed frustration about those things. And again, I understand what - that it's a delicate issue with Panama. We don't want to have a hostile or negative relationship with Panama. I don't believe we do. And - but we had a frank and respectful conversation, and I hope it'll yield fruits and results in the days to come.
QUESTION: But are you - are you pleased or at least encouraged with his response about looking into this and especially with (inaudible) contracts?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, he made some announcements about the Belt - yeah, the Belt and Road initiative, which is good.
QUESTION: Right.
SECRETARY RUBIO: I mean, they're the first country in the western - Latin America to end their relationship with Belt and Road. We do a lot of other things with Panama that go beyond just the canal. I mean, they've been a great partner on slowing down the rate of migration on the Darién - coming across the Darién Gap and the like.
So I think it was a good visit. Obviously, there's still more work to be done there and - but I think it was a very good visit and it was a worthwhile visit and a very respectful - and it was one that I think is going to achieve potentially really good things that assuage concerns we have. But time will tell. We'll see. But I felt good about it.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) Mexico tariffs?
QUESTION: What was your role on Mexico, the deal with Mexico to pause? Can you talk a bit —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, they're going to send 10,000 —
QUESTION: — your role?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah, they're going to send 10,000 border agents. The President has expressed his frustration with the flow of fentanyl and illegal migration. So that's a good step, so the President, I think, has extended it by another month. And I wasn't on the call, but my understanding - it was a good call with President Sheinbaum.
And we want to have a good partnership with Mexico. They'll always be our neighbor and we - and so it's a country that we do a lot of things with. But we have legitimate concerns about the - not just the existing but the rapidly growing presence of dangerous cartels, who in some cases operate as governments in parts of Mexico. It's a huge challenge to the sovereignty of the Mexican state.
And so we seek to be good partners in that regard. I think deploying 10,000 national guardsmen from the - on the Mexican side, from Mexican national guardsmen, is a very good sign. I'm not sure it resolves all the issues that were raised, because beyond that there are some trade imbalance issues the President wants to address. But obviously, you saw the result of that.
QUESTION: Will you travel to Mexico? Will you travel to Mexico to speak —
SECRETARY RUBIO: Will I travel to Mexico? I'm sure I will, but I'm - we're not planning to as part of this trip. Obviously, things can change on any moment. But right now, I've been in touch with their foreign minister. We have started a pretty good relationship, and I'm sure we'll be talking or seeing him very soon, but it won't be - as of this moment, there's no plans for this trip. And I know some of you that are traveling with us want to know the answer, but we don't have any plans at this moment.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, about the money that USAID spends that's criticized as being charitable - I think you used that word, or welfare for poor countries - defenders of USAID and some members of Congress say that it's in America's national interest, that it promotes stability or buys America goodwill overseas. So I mean, do you - what's your reaction to that? Do you think USAID does a lot of that work but you have issues with some of the specific spending?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, my issue, as I said, is yeah, there are things that USAID - that we do through USAID that we should continue to do and we will continue to do, but everything they do has to be in alignment with the national interests and the foreign policy of the United States. And the attitude that USAID has adopted over the years is no, we are independent of the national interest, we fund programs irrespective of whether it's aligned or not aligned with the foreign policy. That's ridiculous. These are taxpayer dollars. Every penny that we spend in foreign aid needs to be in furtherance and aligned with the national interest and the national - and the foreign policy of the United States.
So this is not about ending the programs that USAID does per se. There are things that it does that are good and there are things that it does that we have strong questions about. It's about the way it operates as an entity. And they are supposed to take direction from the State Department, policy direction. They do not. Not only do they not take policy direction; they're completely uncooperative when you ask questions, when you try to go in and find out okay, what does this program do, who's getting the money, why was this funded, why are we doing this, why aren't you coordinating with the embassy or the State Department. Their attitude is we don't have to answer to you because we are independent; we answer to no one. Well, that's not true and that will no longer be the case.
All right, thank you, guys.
