Trump travels to Asia and a meeting with China’s Xi as the US gov’t shutdown drags on

U.S. President Donald Trump, right, chats with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a welcome ceremony
at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing (2017)

President Donald Trump is headed for Asia for the first time this term, a trip where he is expected to work on investment deals and peace efforts before meeting face-to-face with Chinese President Xi Jinping to try to de-escalate a trade war.

“I think we have a really good chance of making a very comprehensive deal,” Trump told reporters traveling with him on Air Force One. He said he plans to discuss fentanyl trafficking with Xi, as well as China’s lack of soybean purchases from the United States. “I want our farmers to be taken care of. And he wants things also,” Trump said.

The Republican president is using the trip to try to advance his diplomatic bona fides after recently brokering a ceasefire and hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas.

During a refueling stop in Qatar on his long-haul flight to Malaysia, Trump met briefly aboard his plane with the ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Trump said they talked about progress on security arrangements in Gaza. “It’s working very well. It’s all smooth. The U.S. doesn’t have to get much involved,” he said.

Trump was set to arrive in Malaysia yesterday morning on a trip that comes as the U.S. government shutdown drags on. Many federal workers are set to miss their first full paycheck this week, there are flight disruptions as already-squeezed air traffic controllers work without pay, and states are confronting the possibility that federal food aid could dry up. As Republicans reject Democratic demands for health care funds, there’s no sign of a break in the impasse, but Trump seems to be continuing on with business as usual, including his foreign trip.

“America is shut down and the President is skipping town,” said U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Trump’s first stop is at a regional summit in Kuala Lumpur. Trump attended the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit only once during his first term, but this year it comes as Malaysia and the U.S. have been working to address a skirmish between Thailand and Cambodia.

Yesterday, he scheduled a meeting with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, 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 nail down an expanded ceasefire.

The president credited Ibrahim with working to resolve the conflict.

“I told the leader of Malaysia, who is a very good man, I think I owe you a trip,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Trump yesterday may also have a significant meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who wants to see the U.S. cut a 40% tariff on Brazilian imports. The U.S. administration has justified the tariffs by citing Brazil’s criminal prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro — a Trump ally.

Beyond trade, Lula on Friday also criticized the U.S. campaign of military strikes off the South American coast in the name of fighting drug trafficking. He said he planned to raise concerns with Trump at a meeting yesterday in Malaysia. The White House has not yet publicly confirmed the meeting is set to take place.

After Malaysia, Trump has stops in Japan and South Korea

From there, Trump heads to Japan and South Korea, where he’s expected to make progress on talks for at least $900 billion in investments for U.S. factories and other projects that those countries committed to in return for easing Trump’s planned tariff rates down to 15% from 25%.

The trip to Tokyo comes a week after Japan elected its first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi. Trump is set to meet with Takaichi, who is a protégé of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Trump was close to Abe, who was assassinated after leaving office. Trump spoke to Takaichi during his flight.

While there, Trump is expected to be hosted by Japanese Emperor Naruhito, and meet with U.S. troops who are stationed in Japan, according to a senior U.S. official who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity about the planned trip.

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 set to be held in Gyeongju, the Trump-Xi meeting is expected to take place in the city of Busan, according to the U.S. official.

The meeting follows months of volatile moves in a trade war between China and the U.S. that have rattled the global economy.

Trump was infuriated earlier this month after Beijing imposed new export controls on rare earths used in technology and threatened to hike retaliatory tariffs to sky-high levels.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he might ask Xi about freeing Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy newspaper founder, saying “it’ll be on my list.”

The only meeting that could possibly eclipse the Xi summit would be an impromptu reunion with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Speculation has been rife since South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told lawmakers this month it was possible that Trump could again meet with Kim in the Demilitarized Zone, as he did in 2019.

But such a meeting is not on the president’s schedule for this trip, according to the U.S. official.

Trump suggested on Friday that it was hard to reach the North Korean leader.

“They have a lot of nuclear weapons, but not a lot of telephone service,” he said. MDT/AP