Trump to embark on 12-day trip to Asia

(Image credit: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

On Friday, President Trump leaves Washington for a 12-day journey to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, and the Philippines, with a brief stop first in Hawaii. He is scheduled to return to the U.S. on Nov. 14. Trump's goals, according to his advisers, are to show a hard line on North Korea's nuclear threat and what he views as Asia's unfair trade practices with the U.S., and signal his commitment to open Asian seas in the face of Chinese maritime aggression.

This will be the longest trip a U.S. president has taken to Asia since George H.W. Bush visited in late 1991 and early 1992, a visit mostly remembered for Bush getting sick and throwing up on Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa at a Japanese state dinner, Reuters notes. When Trump arrives in Japan on Sunday, he will join Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a round of golf, The Japan Times reports, then in the evening, go out to a dinner including "beefsteak, a favorite of the U.S. leader, at a high-end Tokyo restaurant" chosen by Abe himself. Presumably, well-done Wagyu beef with ketchup will sit better with Trump's digestive system than whatever Bush ate.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.