U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to Japan later this month before he attends the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday.
"We're going to do a visit, president's going to do a visit to Japan, and then move to Korea for the APEC conference, where the leaders as of right now will meet," Bessent said at a Washington event hosted by cable network CNBC.
Bessent gave no specific dates for the trip to Japan but said it would come prior to APEC, which begins on Oct. 31.
The U.S. president is also to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit scheduled for Oct. 26-28 in Kuala Lumpur, where he will observe the ceremonial signing of a peace agreement between Thailand and Cambodia after deadly cross-border clashes.
Concerns have been mounting among Japanese and U.S. officials that the ongoing U.S. government shutdown may affect Trump's planned visit to Asia.
There were cases in the past in which a president canceled a foreign trip because of a government shutdown.
Back in 1995, then U.S. President Bill Clinton canceled his visit to Japan due to a government shutdown. In 2013, then-President Barack Obama canceled his attendance at an APEC summit for the same reason.
Tokyo and Washington are jittery also because of uncertainties over Japanese politics after Komeito's exit from its 26-year-old coalition with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
Sanae Takaichi, the new leader of LDP, is reaching out to opposition Nippon Ishin no Kai to cooperate in an upcoming parliamentary vote to pick the next prime minister, with a view to forming a coalition.
"All we can do is continue making preparations," said a Japanese government official.
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