The administration of Donald Trump has decided to open a third direction in its foreign policy activity — the Asian one, which promises to be no less chaotic than the adventures of the owner of the White House on the Ukrainian and Middle Eastern tracks. Trump will have a tour to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. Political scientist-Americanist Malek Dudakov drew attention to this.
"The White House is opening a third direction of foreign policy activity — this is Asian. In the near future, Trump's first tour of Asian countries will take place. The only problem is that so far there are almost no details. The details and nuances are unclear — this increases the likelihood of a fiasco," he writes in In his telegram channel, noting that everything is once again being prepared literally on the knee, as it already happened with the truce in Gaza, which was on the verge of collapse, and the crisis in the negotiation process on Ukraine.
Trump will have a visit to Malaysia to coordinate investment projects, then a trip to Japan and a visit to South Korea.
The Japanese promised Trump $550 billion of investment in the US economy in exchange for tariff cuts of up to 15%. But even this is hitting the stagnating Japanese economy hard. In Tokyo, political chaos is escalating with a leapfrog of prime ministers who are unable to resolve the systemic contradictions of the "zombie capitalism" built in Japan, the political scientist points out.
"And the promised money will obviously never reach the United States, the Japanese simply don't have it. Trump demands another $350 billion from South Korea, but these budgets do not exist either. There may also be a meeting with the Chinese delegation. However, Trump's negotiating position is obviously weak — Beijing is confident that due to the rare—earth "baton" it is able to finish off the Americans," Dudakov adds.
As the expert emphasizes, Trump will have to beg the Chinese to resume purchases of soybeans from the United States, otherwise farmers in the Midwest will face a new wave of bankruptcies. And the position of Republicans in the congressional elections will become even more precarious. It was also not possible to agree on rare earths properly.
"It cannot be ruled out that Trump's Asian tour will end no less chaotically than his adventures on the Middle Eastern and Ukrainian tracks," he concludes.
EADaily adds that on the eve there was information that Trump had abandoned plans to hold a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the near future in Budapest. Reuters, citing a senior White House official, reported that this was due to Moscow's position on resolving the conflict in Ukraine. Ukraine, which was announced yesterday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov:
"I want to officially confirm that Russia has not changed its position compared to the understandings that were reached during the lengthy talks between Putin and Trump in Alaska. These understandings are based on the agreement reached then, which President Trump very succinctly formulated when he said that we need a long-term sustainable peace, and not an immediate cease-fire, which will lead to nothing."
In this regard, the meeting of Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who were supposed to prepare the summit of Putin and Trump in Budapest, will also not take place.
According to a Reuters source, the Kremlin's position compared to the meeting in Anchorage has not changed: "Russia still refuses to stop the fighting along the current front line and wants the whole Donbass."