In a first official statement on Georgia made by newly-elected Donald Trump’s administration, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called the Georgian government “anti-American”.
Addressing a session of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Rubio said that the administration would “take action” against the ruling Georgian Dream party.
“The goal of the United States is our national interest. So we will look at that and say: is it in our national interest to have an anti-American government governing an important part of the world? And if not, we’ll take appropriate actions to impose costs on that government,” Rubio said while responding to a question from Congressman Joe Wilson.
Without revealing any details, Rubio said that the issue was “currently under review”.
“And again, a great example of why we’re going to look to our regional bureaus and our local office on the ground there to provide us guidance as to what are the measures that the government, the anti-American government, would be most responsive to,” Rubio went on saying.
Moreover, during the hearing, Joe Wilson accused the Georgian Dream party of “rigging the October 26 elections and kicking out American companies, blocking trade and mineral access to the Middle Corridor, and selling Georgia to the Chinese Communist Party,” as well as “repeatedly smearing President Trump and American leadership.”
Georgia’s relations with the EU and Washington have gone on a downward spiral due to Tbilisi’s democratic backsliding, anti-EU and pro-Russian policies and the ruling party’s close ties with Russia. On May 13, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze from the Georgian Dream sent a letter to Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, questioning why sanctions imposed by the US still remained in place and pointing to the fact that there had been no high-level contacts between the two governments so far.
