Frank Lavin on President’s Trump Asia Visit

Advocata advisor Ambassador Frank Lavin commented on U.S. President’s Trump’s five nation visit to Asia. Speaking to Forbes Ambassador Lavin says  “President Trump must go beyond merely asserting U.S. goals for the region and put forth a positive framework that allows for natural friends and allies to be supportive.”.  

The 12 day trip that takes the President to China, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea and Philippines is important step in creating some coherence in the administration’s policy toward Asia.  Observers are also looking for clues as to how President’s stated trade policy of “America First” plays out in his dealings with these leading Asian countries.

Seasoned Trade policy expert Prof. Razeen Sally told forbes that “a worst case scenario would involve an escalation of threats from Trump towards Seoul that could cause a Korea-US FTA [KORUS] breakdown similar to NAFTA, thereby endangering the security relationship with South Korea and the regional geopolitical balance.”

Another sticking point of the tour is how President Trump would deal with the increasingly tense relationship with North Korea. Ambassador Lavin says it’s likely as a first step that the Trump administration would use the trip to make it known its solidarity with South Korea and that we could see increasing pressure on North Korea going forward.