President Donald Trump departs for Asia late Friday on his first trip to the region since returning to office, aiming to secure investment deals and advance peace efforts before holding a critical meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to ease escalating trade tensions.
Trump is expected to leave Washington late Friday and arrive in Malaysia on Sunday morning — the first stop in a three-country sprint that also includes Japan and South Korea.
His trip comes as the U.S. government shutdown continues to strain the country. Federal employees are missing paychecks, flight delays are increasing as air traffic controllers work without pay, and some states are bracing for cuts to federal food assistance. Despite the deadlock in Congress — with Republicans and Democrats still divided over healthcare funding — Trump is pressing ahead with his foreign travel.
“America is shut down and the President is skipping town,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Friday night.
Malaysia: Ceasefire and Trade Talks
Trump’s first engagement will be at the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, marking only his second appearance at the annual meeting. This year’s summit comes as Malaysia and the U.S. work to settle recent border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia.
Trump will meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and then join the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia for a joint signing ceremony to formalize an expanded ceasefire — an agreement Trump helped broker earlier this year after threatening to suspend trade deals if fighting continued.
He may also meet with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is pressing the U.S. to lift a 40% tariff on Brazilian imports. The Trump administration has defended the tariff, citing Brazil’s prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally. Lula has also criticized recent U.S. military operations off South America’s coast, which Washington says target drug trafficking. He plans to raise those concerns with Trump during their potential meeting in Malaysia, though the White House has not confirmed it.
Japan: Investment Deals and Diplomacy
From Malaysia, Trump will travel to Japan, where he aims to finalize more than $900 billion in investment commitments for U.S. factories and infrastructure projects. In exchange, Trump is expected to lower proposed tariffs on Japanese imports from 25% to 15%.
The visit coincides with the election of Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, a protégé of the late former leader Shinzo Abe, with whom Trump had a close relationship. In Tokyo, he will meet Takaichi, visit Emperor Naruhito, and address U.S. troops stationed in Japan, according to a senior U.S. official.
South Korea: Summit with Xi
Trump’s final stop will be South Korea, where he will meet President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, held in Gyeongju. The Trump–Xi talks are expected to take place separately in Busan, focusing on easing tensions in the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, which has shaken global markets.
Relations have soured after Beijing introduced new export restrictions on rare earth minerals and threatened steep retaliatory tariffs. Despite earlier anger over those moves, Trump has recently expressed optimism, saying he expects a “fantastic deal” with Xi.
There is also speculation about a possible surprise meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, after South Korean officials hinted it might occur in the Demilitarized Zone — a repeat of their 2019 encounter. However, U.S. officials have said no such meeting is currently planned.