WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is traveling to Asia for the first time this term on Friday, where he is expected to work on investment deals and peace efforts before meeting in person with Chinese President Xi Jinping to try to defuse a trade war.
The president, who is scheduled to leave the White House delayed Friday evening, will have a long-haul flight that will see him arrive in Malaysia on Sunday morning, the first stop in a three-country sprint.
His journey takes place as the US government shutdown drags on. Many federal workers will miss their first full paycheck this week, there are flight disruptions as already-stressed air traffic controllers work without pay, and states face the possibility that federal food aid could desiccated up. With Republicans rejecting Democrats’ demands for health care funds, there is no sign the stalemate will be broken, but Trump appears to be carrying on as before, including his trip abroad.
“America is in lockdown and the president is leaving town,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Friday evening.
Trump’s first stop is a regional summit in Kuala Lumpur. During his first term, Trump attended the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations only once, but this year as Malaysia and the United States have worked to resolve a skirmish between Thailand and Cambodia.
A meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is planned for Sunday, followed by a joint signing ceremony with the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia.
Trump threatened earlier this year to withhold trade deals with the countries if they didn’t stop fighting, and his administration has since been working with Malaysia to establish an expanded ceasefire.
The US president could also have an vital meeting on Sunday with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a 40% cut in US tariffs on Brazilian imports. The US government justified the tariffs by citing the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro – a Trump ally – in Brazil.
Beyond trade, Lula on Friday also criticized the US military campaign off the South American coast in the name of fighting drug trafficking. He said he planned to raise concerns with Trump at a meeting on Sunday in Malaysia. The White House has not yet publicly confirmed that the meeting will take place.
After Malaysia, Trump stops in Japan and South Korea
From there, Trump will travel to Japan and South Korea, where he is expected to make progress in talks on at least $900 billion in investments in U.S. factories and other projects that those countries have committed to in return for a cut in Trump’s planned tariff rates from 25% to 15%.
The trip to Tokyo comes a week after Japan elected its first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. Trump is expected to meet with Takaichi, a protégé of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Trump was close to Abe, who was assassinated after leaving office.
Trump is expected to be received by Japanese Emperor Naruhito and meet with U.S. troops stationed in Japan during his stay there, according to a senior U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to reporters about the planned trip on condition of anonymity.
In South Korea, Trump is expected to hold a highly anticipated meeting with China’s Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
While the APEC summit is scheduled to take place in Gyeongju, the Trump-Xi meeting is expected to take place in the city of Busan, according to the US official.
The meeting follows months of volatile moves in the China-US trade war that have rattled the global economy.
Trump was furious earlier this month after Beijing imposed up-to-date export controls on occasional earths used in technology and threatened to raise retaliatory tariffs to sky-high levels. He said he wanted China to buy U.S. soybeans. However, earlier this week, Trump expressed optimism, predicting he would reach a “fantastic deal” with Xi.
The only meeting that could possibly overshadow the Xi summit would be an impromptu reunion with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Speculation has been rife since South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told lawmakers this month it was possible Trump could meet with Kim again in the demilitarized zone, as he did in 2019.
However, according to the US official, such a meeting is not on the president’s schedule for this trip.
