Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, has invited senior officials from dozens of countries to a summit on far-left terrorism, part of a wider Trump administration crackdown on antifa groups. According to the Washington Post, the initiative has alarmed some within the White House itself, who fear that establishing tough new counterterrorism powers could ultimately be turned against conservatives by a future Democratic administration — most notably one led by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who is widely expected to run for president in 2028.

The summit, scheduled for 16 July, was called because radical left-wing terrorism is "an old threat re-emerging with strong transnational links", according to State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott. Officials' unease centres on the prospect of the administration applying severe counterterrorism measures normally reserved for foreign actors to domestic groups; counterterrorism chief Sebastian Gorka has reportedly floated treating antifa as foreign terrorists, a stance endorsed by Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Some US officials plan to boycott the event, and several European diplomats have expressed scepticism.