US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters at Bahrain International Airport on June 25 before departing Manama, Bahrain, after meeting with Gulf foreign ministers. [AFP]
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters at Bahrain International Airport on June 25 before departing Manama, Bahrain, after meeting with Gulf foreign ministers. [AFP]

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invited ministers from more than 60 countries to Washington to discuss what he called "the resurgence of transnational far-left terrorism," The Washington Post reported Thursday.

According to documents obtained by the Post, the meeting is scheduled for Thursday at the State Department headquarters in Washington. Most European nations and major Latin American countries are among those invited, as are India, Indonesia and Singapore from Asia. The Post did not specify whether South Korea received an invitation.

Invitations were sent last week with a response deadline of Friday, leaving invited governments little time before the meeting itself.

The Post said the initiative has drawn scrutiny over whether the Trump administration is seeking to deploy sweeping counterterrorism tools under the banner of combating left-wing extremism.

Within the White House, the administration is also weighing whether to designate Antifa — a longtime target of Trump — as a foreign terrorist organization.

Antifa is a loose coalition of far-left activists opposed to fascism and right-wing ideology. A foreign terrorist organization designation would expand the government's authority to track and investigate Americans with ties to the group.

Among the foreign governments that received invitations, the meeting's purpose has drawn puzzled reactions.

Several foreign government officials told the Post that the invitation was vague and the outreach came late. One European diplomat said, "We don't have Antifa here," while another said they could not find a reason to attend such an event.

A third European diplomat said left-wing terrorism is not a focus because "it's not a priority threat."

A former official who served in both the first Trump administration and the Joe Biden administration told the Post that Europeans are more concerned about right-wing terrorism than left-wing terrorism.

Trump has long claimed that Antifa is behind political violence in the United States. Last September, he designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, and in November he designated four affiliated European groups as foreign terrorist organizations.

The Post described the meeting as a sign that the Trump administration's counterterrorism focus is shifting away from Islamist extremism and far-right violence toward left-wing extremism.


sjy@heraldcorp.com