November 15, 2017
The 5 things we learned from Trump’s Asia trip
President Trump returned Tuesday night after 12 days in Asia. So what did we learn from his stops in Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines? Here are five takeaways:
1) Trump embraced alliances (sort of) but didn’t really reassure anyone
A typical goal of presidential trips is to tend to alliance relations — to maintain and renew ties, provide reassurance where needed or smooth over problems. Given Trump’s long-standing skepticism of alliances, there were significant questions about whether he would reassure anxious allies in Japan and South Korea.
The Japan leg of the trip went reasonably smoothly. Given the close bond Trump has formed with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, that’s perhaps unsurprising.
A smooth visit was not a given in South Korea, where relations have been frosty. Since taking office, Trump has called on South Korea to pay for the THAAD missile defense system and has threatened to end the U.S.-ROK free trade deal.
And Trump’s repeated threats to use unilateral force against North Korea are damaging to the U.S.-Korean alliance, forcing the progressive new president, Moon Jae-in, to distance himself from the United States. South Korean public opinion of the U.S. president is at a nadir.
Read the full commentary in the Washington Post.
More from CNAS
-
CNAS Insights | Mr. President, You Are Losing India
Commentary
Last month, after Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Narendra Modi clasped hands in Tianjin, China, President Donald Trump concluded that the United States had “lost India and Ru...
By Lisa Curtis & Richard Fontaine
-
N. Korea Hardens Nuclear Stance at UN, Hints at Selective Diplomacy
Video
Seven years after disappearing from the UN’s main stage, North Korea returned — and made sure the world listened. Vice Minister Kim Son-kyong stood before the General Assembly...
By Dr. Go Myong-Hyun
-
USSC Briefing Room | The Prognosis for the Quad and Other U.S. Alliances in the Indo-Pacific
Podcast
In conversation with the United States Studies Centre, Director of the Indo-Pacific Program at the Center for a New American Security, Lisa Curtis discussed the Quad and the f...
By Lisa Curtis
-
Afghanistan: Why Does Trump Want to Retake Bagram Air Base?
Video
Lisa Curtis, senior fellow and program director at the Center for a New American Security joined Deutsche Welle to discuss President Trump's comments on the U.S. regaining con...
By Lisa Curtis
