President Trump recently completed his tour through Asia, visiting China, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Each country greeted the President extravagantly, a fact that he took as being indicative of the trip's success, stating, "It was a red carpet like I think probably nobody has ever received. That really is a sense of respect, perhaps for me a little bit, but really for our country, and I'm very proud of that." However, the president's critics have stated that the trip lacked any real substance. "He seemed far more interested in pomp and circumstance-red carpets, fancy meals and the flattery of foreign leaders-than advancing American interests in a region that is increasingly looking to China for leadership," declared Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer.
In China, Trump directed blame at his predecessors for prior trade deals that had disadvantaged the United States, praised China for taking advantage of them, and then returned to scolding China once he set foot in Vietnam. Shocking much of the world this week, however, was the heated exchange between Trump and the North Korean media. In Seoul, the president invited Kim Jong Un to discuss ending the North Korean nuclear program, but then posted a tweet calling Kim "short and fat." For the offending tweet, North Korea's state media stated that Trump deserved the death penalty, writing, "The worst crime for which he can never be pardoned is that he dared [to] malignantly hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership... He should know that he is just a hideous criminal sentenced to death by the Korean people." The DPRK went on to label the president a coward for canceling his trip to the demilitarized zone (a cancellation that Trump claims was due to poor weather, which North Korea does not accept). Such interactions with North Korea are not reassuring to nations such as South Korea and Japan, which are both in range of the DPRK's ranged missiles.
In the wake of these rising tensions, economic negotiations are continuing with regard to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is now moving forward without the United States. Eleven nations, including US allies such as Mexico, Japan, and Canada in addition to Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Brunei, and New Zealand, have announced that they are committed to the multinational trade agreement. Even without the United States, the agreement will account for nearly one sixth of all global trade, and all members of the deal will have tariff-free trade with one another. That the United States has opted to withdraw from this arrangement has been viewed uneasily by those companies based in the US with international investments. Rufus Yerxa, president of the National Foreign Trade Council which represents companies such as Walmart
