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Secretary Rubio Holds Press Availability on the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Atlanta, October 31, 2026

October 31, 2026 · U.S. Department of State · 0:42:40

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What happened

Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a press availability in Atlanta after the G20 foreign ministers meeting, thanking the city for hosting and saying that, under President Trump’s leadership, the United States had set a mission for the G20 to get back to basics and focus on the core economic purpose for which the forum was created, as he stated it. He said the ministers focused on core economic, energy, technology and supply-chain challenges and on practical outcomes, with the details set out in his chair’s statement, according to his remarks.

Rubio said a main issue addressed was freedom of navigation. He said the Iranian regime now actively and openly targets commercial vessels — not naval vessels — for attack as a tool of statecraft, and that U.S. Central Command had done, in his words, a phenomenal job protecting shipping, with fuel flows comparable to pre-conflict levels even as U.S. forces defended ships from drones and missiles almost every night, as he stated it. He also cited attacks in the Bab al-Mandeb and coercion in the South China Sea and the Strait of Taiwan, and said threatened sea lanes drive food-security problems when energy, fertilizer and agricultural products cannot reach their destinations, as he stated it.

On the sidelines, Rubio said the Quad met again and that a Quad leaders’ meeting in Manila was expected the following month, and that he held a trilateral meeting with Japan and South Korea at which the three signed a memorandum of cooperation on a transnational Arctic-Pacific partnership, as he stated it. He praised Poland’s delegation, saying President Trump believes Poland deserves a seat at the table of global leaders, and he looked ahead to the leaders’ summit in Doral, Florida, in December, which he said President Trump would lead, according to his remarks.

Answering questions on Iran, Rubio said talks had never stopped, proceeding directly and through intermediaries, and that President Trump’s preference is to solve challenges diplomatically where possible, but he declined to characterize the progress of the talks or any timeframe, as he stated it. He said Iran could never be allowed to become a nuclear weapons power and described the regime as the center of instability in the Middle East through its proxies, according to his remarks.

Scoreboard watch

Rubio said a Quad leaders’ meeting in Manila was expected the month after the October 31 availability, and that President Trump would lead the G20 leaders’ summit in Doral, Florida, in December — both dated events against which the Atlanta meeting’s follow-through can be checked.

Why it matters

The availability is the State Department’s on-the-record account of the U.S.-chaired G20 foreign ministers’ meeting — the administration’s stated attempt to refocus the forum on economic, energy and supply-chain questions ahead of the leaders’ summit President Trump is to lead in Florida in December, as Rubio described it.

Sources: U.S. Department of State, “Secretary Rubio holds a press availability on the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia”, 2026-10-31 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-10-31). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.