Trump chooses Grenelli as sent for special international missions

“Ric will work for some of the hottest points in the world, including Venezuela and North Korea”, Mr. Trump said on his social media platform True Social, without further providing for the responsibilities of this position.

A source from Mr. Trump's transition team told Reuters that Mr. Green will also focus on tensions in the Balkans.

Mr. Greenell reacted to platform X:

Working for the American people for Donald Trump is the greatest honor of life. President Trump is someone who finds solutions to problems, keeping Americans safe and prosperous. We have a lot of work to do. Let's start work”, he said.

During Mr. Trump's first term, Mr. Greenell served as ambassador to Germany, the special presidential envoy for negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo, as well as as as acting director of National Intelligence.

He has long been one of Mr. Trump's foreign policy advisers.

After campaigning intensively for Mr. Trump for the November 5th election, Mr. Green was the chief contender for the post of Secretary of State, but Mr. Trump appointed Senator Marco Rubio for that post.

He was also named a potential candidate for the position of special envoy for the war in Ukraine, but ultimately Mr. Trump chose retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg for that task.

He was present when Mr. Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in September. Mr. Green has expressed itself in favour of a peace agreement that would preserve Ukraine's territory, however, allow “autonomous regions” where Russia can remain in control.

He has also cautioned against NATO enlargement, including Ukraine's membership, as did Mr. Trump, that the alliance should not be expanded until current members meet the alliance's defence spending goals. Members of the transatlantic alliance have vowed for years to spend 2% of their domestic production of Bruto for defence, but some countries have not yet achieved that goal.

Mr. Greenell campaigned intensively for Mr. Trump with Arab-American voters in Michigan, where the president-elect managed to win in a traditionally democratic electorate, despite having banned immigration from several majority Muslim countries in the past. Mr. Green organized pro-Mr. Trump activities with Arab-American voters.

The presidents appoint special envoys or presidents to focus on global issues, crises or specific diplomatic efforts. North Korea and Venezuela are opponents of the US, though according to reports Mr. Trump is considering the possibility of direct talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, hoping to downplay the dangers of armed conflict.

During his presidential campaign, Trump called Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro a dictator. Mr. Maduro said Mr. Trump's re-election was “a new beginning” for bilateral relations.

In his first term, Trump imposed tougher sanctions on the South American country, especially in its main oil industry. Maduro severed his relationship in 2019.

Reuters reports that in 2020, Mr. Green met secretly with a Maduro representative in an effort to ensure the peaceful departure of Venezuelan leader from power after his re-election in 2018 was considered manipulated by most Western countries, but no agreement was reached.

US Senator Bill Hagerty voiced support for Mr. Greenelli, saying on the X platform that he would do “a brilliant job by dealing with some of the world's most difficult challenges”. / VOA/