Marco Rubio’s Stature Rising as He Tackles War in Ukraine, Canada Relations [Video]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio landed in Saudi Arabia Monday, where he will hold a high-profile meeting with Ukrainian officials and seek to smooth tensions with Canada at a critical moment in his new role as the nation’s top diplomat.

Rubio has been largely overshadowed by Elon Musk and some of President Donald Trump‘s more controversial Cabinet picks in his first weeks on the job running the State Department.

But the former Florida senator is now increasingly in the spotlight and facing growing pressure to make progress on some of Trump’s key foreign policy goals, raising the stakes for his trip to Saudi Arabia and then Canada later in the week.

“He’s under pressure” to deliver wins for the administration while also acting as an intermediary who can help allies decipher Trump’s motivations, Vivek Astvansh, an expert on U.S.-Canada relations at McGill University, said of Rubio.

In his first stop this week, Rubio will lead the U.S. delegation in talks …