After months of tariff threats and brow-beating on defense spending, American allies in Asia had ample reason to be wary of President Donald Trump. However, he ended up using a three-nation tour of the region to hammer home a clear message: The U.S. still has your back.
Trump said the U.S. was "wedded” to South Korea, addressed some of its concerns about a $350 billion investment pledge and approved its request for nuclear-powered submarines. He told Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that she can ask him for help with "anything.” And he avoided watering down the U.S. commitment to Taiwan in a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, while his defense chief, Pete Hegseth, voiced concerns about Beijing’s naval activities around the island democracy.
The U.S. president also sought to mend ties with Southeast Asian nations that have leaned closer toward Beijing as Trump took aim at their economic growth engines — signing trade agreements with Cambodia and Malaysia and frameworks for deals with Thailand and Vietnam. Hegseth, traveling separately in the region, signed a 10-year defense deal with India and announced that military exercises with Cambodia would resume for the first time in eight years.
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