Source: Shangguan News
On Monday, White House Press Secretary Levitt announced the schedule of Trump's upcoming trip to Asia at a news conference.
First visit to Asia for a new term
In a video of the White House website press conference, Levitt said that Trump will depart for Malaysia on the evening of the 24th local time, and then visit Japan and South Korea.
She said that on the 26th, Trump will meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar and attend an ASEAN Leaders’ Work Dinner. On the 27th, Trump flew to Tokyo to meet with Japan’s new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the 28th. On the 29th, Trump will flew to South Korea to meet South Korea’s President Liu Ming. Trump will also deliver a keynote speech at the Business Leaders’ Summit lunch held during the APEC meeting, and then attend the U.S.-APEC Leaders’ Work Dinner.
Levitt said that Trump will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the 30th and return home on the same day.
Judging from the US schedule, Trump will be absent from the APEC Leaders' Informal Meeting, which opened on the 31st.
This will be Trump’s first visit to Asia in his second term, and it is expected that the move will ease trade tensions between Trump and other Asian countries.
Observers listed the main highlights of each stop of Trump's trip.
In Malaysia, Trump has three main backgrounds.
First, this will be his second participation in the East Asian Cooperation Summit since 2017. Secondly, the event is at the time when the region expects to stabilize its relationship with the United States. ASEAN leaders recently issued a joint statement expressing concerns about U.S. trade protectionist policies, which countries in the region are subject to tariffs ranging from 10 to 40 percent. Third, ASEAN itself faces regional stability challenges and is at a critical moment in economic development.
Therefore, the outside world is concerned that when Trump meets with ASEAN leaders on Sunday, whether Vietnam, Thailand and other countries will struggle with the US trade surplus, and whether ASEAN and the United States will strengthen economic cooperation by signing a reciprocal trade agreement.
In addition, Trump’s visit was not limited to trade – he hoped to end the border dispute between Thailand and Malaysia, where he reached a fragile ceasefire under Malaysian mediation, but the roots of the conflict remain unresolved.Malaysian officials revealed that Trump “desires” to sign a peace agreement during the summit, using this breakthrough to consolidate his “reputation as an international peace-builder.”
Takaichi sanae's "Big Test"
In Japan, Trump will meet with High Market Early Summit.This will be the first major summit meeting faced by High Market Early Summit after taking office as prime minister.
At that time, Trump may ask Japan to effectively fulfill the investment agreement with the United States with a total amount of US$550 billion promised during the Ishiba administration and conditional on tariff reductions, and may also provide specific investments to Japan in energy and other fields. Make clear requirements. This is a "big test" for Gaoshi Zao Miao.
In addition, the outside world noted that the company hoped to advance the goal of "defense spending to 2% of GDP" starting in fiscal year 2027 until the end of this fiscal year, was interpreted as hoping to show the U.S. that Japan is willing to bear more defense spending.
According to several relevant sources on 23rd, Japan and the United States are coordinating the meeting of Japanese Defence Minister Ho Chi Minh and U.S. Secretary of Defence Hergezes on 29th in Tokyo, and it is expected that Ho Chi Minh will inform the United States that Japan intends to start changing the national security strategy in advance, including three security related documents.
Commentators believe that Gaoshi's right-wing conservatism is obvious. Whether Japan and the United States will promote the so-called "free and open Indo-Pacific strategy," whether they will target China on issues such as the East China Sea and the South China Sea, and whether they will strengthen the deterrent power of the US-Japan alliance and promote multilateral cooperation with other allied countries will all become a focus.
The trip to Korea station is the climax
South Korea is the culmination of Trump’s visit, where he will not only meet with South Korean President Lee in Ming, but also participate in activities within the framework of APEC, and possibly meet with other countries’ leaders.
This will be the second time that Lee Jae-myung has held talks with Trump since he took office as president after the Washington meeting in August this year.
South Korea is concerned about whether the talks between the leaders of South Korea and the United States can provide an opportunity for economic and trade consultations between the two countries. The two countries reached an agreement this summer that South Korea invested 350 billion U.S. dollars in the United States in exchange for reducing U.S. auto tariffs on South Korea from 25% to 15%. However, there are still differences between the two sides on the investment form of the ROK.
The issue of the peninsula is also an unavoidable topic between the US and South Korea. Recently, North Korea launched missiles toward the eastern part of the peninsula, and South America may coordinate its security policy on the peninsula. In addition, the outside world has recently frequently speculated whether Trump would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un near the Korean border, but comments say the possibility is very small.
The outside world is also very concerned about the possible meeting of China-US leaders in South Korea.Analysts believe that in the context of the re-escalation of the Sino-US trade war, whether the two sides can find a consensus on key trade issues such as rare earth, tariffs, soybeans is not yet known.
The commentary believes that the future of the global economy may depend on whether Trump can ease trade tensions in the expected meeting with Chinese leaders. Once Trump makes a mistake, it may bring shocks to various industries in the United States, which have long been hit by his aggressive tariffs, government layoffs and political brinkmanship.
White House officials announced Trump's agenda for Asia, South Korea's station is "a climax", China-US relations are concerned