Trump on Asia
Donald Trump has made a series of comments that suggest he would significantly alter U.S. policy in the region.
Trump on Asia
Donald Trump has made a series of comments that suggest he would significantly alter U.S. policy in:
North Korea
Trump has referred to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a “maniac,” a “madman,” and a “total nutjob,” but says he has "something going for him" and “deserves credit” for securing power following the death of his father.
- Would be open to negotiating directly with Kim, and has even offered to hold the talks in the US. “Who the hell cares?”
Trump said in June of a possible Kim meeting. - Suggested he'd get China to assassinate Kim. “I'd get China to make that guy disappear in one form or another very quickly,” Trump told CBS.
- Would apply greater leverage on China to get North Korea to make concessions on its nuclear program.
- North Korean state media have praised Trump as a “wise politician” and spoken positively of his threat to remove U.S. troops from Korea.
South Korea
Trump has threatened to withdraw U.S. troops from South Korea unless Seoul “pays us very substantially.”
2:36 AM - 9 Mar 2013
- Consistently says, incorrectly, that Seoul pays the US nothing for protection against the North
- Said the US “gets nothing” from the 28,000 troop deployment
- Suggested South Korea would be better off with its own nuclear weapons.
- Opposes US free trade deal struck with South Korea in 2012, calling the pact a “job killer” and “embarrassing.”
Japan
Suggested the U.S. would hesitate to get involved in a war between Japan and North Korea. "If they do, they do. Good luck, enjoy yourself, folks," he said.
- Trump said in March that Japan “may very well be better off” if it had nuclear weapons to defend itself.
- Has threatened to pull US troops out of Japan unless Tokyo pays more for the deployment
- Calls the U.S.-Japan mutual defense treaty one-sided. “If we're attacked, Japan doesn't have to do anything,” Trump said in August. “They can sit at home and watch Sony television.”
China
- Trump has promised to place a 45% tariff on Chinese exports to the US
- Would label China a currency manipulator
- Opposes the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which aims to isolate China
- During campaign events, has repeatedly said the US will “beat China.”
Philippines
