Trump is going to Asia — what happens next is anyone’s guess

WASHINGTON AP President Donald Trump is expected to leave for Asia at the end of the week betting that an around-the-world journey will help him untangle big issues that he can t afford to get wrong At stake is nothing less than the future of the global market system which could hinge on whether he s able to calm contract tensions during an expected meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping A misstep could send shock waves through American industries that have already been rattled by Trump s aggressive tariffs executive layoffs and political brinkmanship Trump s strategy of improvisation has had both hits and misses since he returned to office in January Hamas returned hostages to Israel but the ceasefire in the Middle East remains fragile a exchange war with China has ebbed and flowed this year and Russia s invasion of Ukraine hasn t slowed down despite Trump s efforts to resolve the conflict There s been specific mystery around Trump s trip with no official announcements from the White House about much of his itinerary The president stated Monday that he plans to go to Malaysia which is hosting a regional summit then Japan where he s trying to nail down foreign commitment He ll also visit South Korea where he s working on more pact issues and expects to sit down with Xi Beijing has yet to confirm that they ll meet and the two leaders have in recent months exchanged threats of tariffs and export restrictions I have a very good relationship with President Xi of China Trump advised reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday He offered to lower tariffs but they have to give us particular things too including buying U S soybeans reducing the flow of fentanyl ingredients and ending limits on rare earth minerals that are critical for high-tech manufacturing Trump expressed even more confidence on Monday saying I think we re going to end up having a fantastic deal with China and it s going to be fantastic for the entire world This will be Trump s first trip to Asia in his second term With just days to go before Trump leaves there s an peculiar level of ambiguity even for a president who loves to keep people guessing about his next move The whole trip has seemed so uncertain from the beginning announced Bonnie Glaser a managing director at the German Marshall Fund a Washington-based think tank It s Trump s first trip to Asia since returning to office Although he s hosted leaders from the region at the White House he hasn t forged the kind of foundational relationships that he has on other continents Anna Kelly a spokesperson for the president responded to a list of questions about Trump s plans by saying he will participate in meetings and events in Asia that will product in countless great deals for our country She added Stay tuned Trump s approach to Asia has focused on using tariffs to realign what he describes as unfair commerce practices unnerving countries that depend on the United States as the world s largest sector for exports There s also anxiety about Trump s meeting with Xi and the likely that a feud between the two leaders could send the international market into a tailspin There will be specific appreciation for the fact that he s there but I don t think it will go far enough to quell the doubts that are pervasive in the region Glaser predicted The Republican president has downsized his foreign initiative company since his first term eschewing the typical array of advisers at the National Safety Council in favor of a core group of loyalists There s not very a great number of White House staff to do this kind of work mentioned Rush Doshi who worked on China agenda under President Joe Biden All of this puts us in uncharted waters Michael Green who worked on President George W Bush s National Measure Council and now leads the United States Studies Centre in Sydney Australia announced there s been no clear Asia strategy from Trump Everyone is waiting to see where he s going to come down on all of this he noted Others say Trump s approach is paying off Anthony Kim a research fellow in international economic affairs at the Heritage Foundation announced Japan and South Korea are eager to work with the administration to solidify partnerships The message from them has been let s sit down talk about relevant details to make a deal Kim reported Trump s plans remain in flux as the trip approaches Malaysia is hosting the Association of Southeast Asian Nations an annual summit that Trump attended only once during his first term even skipping it when it was held virtually during the COVID- pandemic However this year the summit offers an opportunity to highlight Trump s peacemaking efforts which he s made central to his foreign guidelines agenda Thailand and Cambodia skirmished along their disputed perimeter over the summer and Trump threatened to withhold bargain deals with each country if they didn t stop fighting They were willing to come together and talk to avoid more economic pain revealed Ja Ian Chong a political science professor at the National University of Singapore Malaysia and the U S have been working toward securing an expanded ceasefire The Malaysian foreign minister mentioned Trump looks forward to the signing of an agreement at the summit Trump s next stop is Japan Washington and Tokyo reached a arrangement agreement earlier this year which included the promise of billion of investments in U S projects Japan is in a moment of political transition with Sanae Takaichi expected on Tuesday to become the first woman to serve as prime minister Takaichi is a prot g of Shinzo Abe a former prime minister who was assassinated after leaving office Trump was close with Abe during his first term and Green disclosed Takaichi has the probable to also play that role Working with Trump and keeping him committed to U S alliances requires a level of interaction and trust that none of the Asian leaders have Green commented South Korea is Trump s final stop on his trip The climax of the president s journey will likely be South Korea which is hosting this year s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit Trump has noted he ll sit down with Xi while he s there Tensions have increased in latest weeks particularly with China s announcement of restrictions on exports of rare earth minerals Trump threatened to retaliate with tariffs so high that he admits they would be unsustainable Doshi the former Biden adviser explained there are three prospective outcomes from Trump s meeting with Xi deal no deal or mishap He commented China is emboldened after Trump backed down on an earlier tariff announcement when Beijing restricted the export of rare earth magnets The Chinese feel they have President Trump s number Doshi explained They feel that if they push on this he ll fold Trump revealed Monday that China has treated us with great respect since he s been in office He revealed I could threaten them with numerous other things but I want to be good to China Another open question will be Trump s commerce negotiations with South Korea which is facing U S tariffs that could undermine its auto industry However Seoul has balked at Trump s demand for a billion resources fund similar to the one in Japan There s specific momentum to the talks mentioned Wendy Cutler who spent more than two decades as a U S transaction negotiator and is now senior vice president at the Asia Society But I don t want to overstate it because there are particular fundamental differences about this fund that need to be sorted out She announced it s not remarkable for talks to go down to the wire but this time there are so a multitude of balls in the air Associated Press writer Josh Boak contributed to this summary Source