Trump's High-Stakes Asian Tour

While Trump has hosted several Asian heads of state in Washington already, this is his first trip to the region in his second term.

Conflict between Thailand and Cambodia broke out in July, as 43 people were killed and 300,000 were displaced during five days of fighting. Trump called the heads of state of the two countries on July 26, and they negotiated a cease-fire in Malaysia on July 28.

The list of attendees of this year’s summit has elevated the event’s profile. In addition to Trump, leaders from China, Japan, Russia, India, and Italy are expected to join the summit.

The trip will occur just after Japan’s parliament elected Sanae Takaichi, head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), as the new prime minister on Oct. 21. She replaces Shigeru Ishiba, who resigned last month.

Japan has seen increased Chinese military activity around its territory in recent years, and ramped up joint drills with allies including the United States in response.

The country signed a trade deal with the United States in September that lowers tariffs on Japanese goods to 15 percent in exchange for $550 billion in investments in the United States.

Recently, the Trump administration said it expects Japan to stop buying Russian energy. Japanese officials said they have steadily decreased imports since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, but did not commit to stopping purchases of Russian liquified natural gas.

The country’s chief policy officer, Kim Yong-beom, visited Washington to meet with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and said upon the trip’s conclusion that they have made progress on most items and only need to iron out “one or two” more.