US President Donald Trump began the final leg of his Asia trip in South Korea on Wednesday, optimistic about striking a trade war truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping and advancing an unresolved tariff deal with South Korea’s Lee Jae-myung.
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Arriving from Tokyo hours after North Korea test-fired a nuclear-capable cruise missile, Trump was treated to a lavish reception by President Lee on Wednesday in Gyeongju, a sleepy South Korean town hosting this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum, before Thursday’s talks with Xi.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to South Korea, Trump dismissed the North Korea missile test and said he was squarely focused on his meeting with the leader of the world’s second-largest economy.
Addressing a summit of Apec CEOs in Gyeongju before his meeting with Lee, Trump said a trade deal with South Korea would be finalised “very soon”, though officials on both sides have been downplaying the prospect of a breakthrough this week.
The two allies announced a deal in late July under which South Korea would avoid the worst of the tariffs by agreeing to pump US$350 billion of new investments into the United States. But talks over the structure of those investments have been deadlocked.
Meeting Lee at the nearby Gyeongju National Museum, Trump was presented with a gold crown and the “Grand Order of Mugunghwa”, the country’s highest decoration worn as an elaborate sash and medal. “I’d like to wear it right now,” Trump quipped.