President Donald Trump’s second stop in his Asia trip is in South Korea on Tuesday, where he spoke of America’s trade deficit and ate with soldiers.
“I had a choice of having a beautiful, very fancy lunch and I said no, I want to eat with the troops and we ate with the troops,” Trump said about his lunch at Camp Humphreys.
Trump visited the military base instead of the demilitarized zone (DMZ). “It’s becoming a little bit of a cliché, frankly. And that’s why he’s going to be down at Humphreys,” a senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told reporters last week.
US President Donald Trump (C) talks to military personnel while South Korean President Moon Jae-In (R) looks on at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul on November 7, 2017.
Trump’s marathon Asia tour moves to South Korea, another key ally in the struggle with nuclear-armed North Korea, but one with deep reservations about the US president’s strategy for dealing with the crisis. JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
US President Donald Trump (2nd-L) talks to military personnel while South Korean President Moon Jae-In (R) looks on at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul on November 7, 2017.
Trump’s marathon Asia tour moves to South Korea, another key ally in the struggle with nuclear-armed North Korea, but one with deep reservations about the US president’s strategy for dealing with the crisis. JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
Trump later had an operational briefing with key military leaders. “I think ultimately it will all work out, it always works out, it has to work out,” Trump said about tensions with North Korea.
Shortly after he landed in Japan Saturday, Trump delivered a speech that could only be interpreted as a warning to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
“No one, no dictator, no regime … should underestimate American resolve,” Trump said at Yokota Air Base. “Every once in a while in the past they underestimated us. It was not pleasant for them.”
US President Donald Trump (2nd-L) greets military personnel upon arriving at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul on November 7, 2017.
Trump’s marathon Asia tour moves to South Korea, another key ally in the struggle with nuclear-armed North Korea, but one with deep reservations about the US president’s strategy for dealing with the crisis JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with US Forces Korea Commander General Vincent Brooks at the 8th Army Operational Command Centre at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul on November 7, 2017.
Trump’s marathon Asia tour moves to South Korea, another key ally in the struggle with nuclear-armed North Korea, but one with deep reservations about the US president’s strategy for dealing with the crisis. JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images
President Trump also continued to bring up the issue of America’s trade deficits.
“I feel confident that we’ll be able to reach a free, fair, and reciprocal trade deal as we renegotiate our current five-year-old trade document,” Trump said at a press briefing standing beside South Korean President Moon. “Currently, we are looking at ways of improving our economic relationship. I would like to thank President Moon for instructing his trade negotiators to work closely with us to quickly pursue a much better deal — a deal that, frankly, has been quite unsuccessful and not very good for the United States.”