HONOLULU — On his most grueling and consequential trip abroad, President Trump stands ready to exhort Asian allies and rivals on the need to counter the dangers posed by North Korea’s nuclear threat.
The 12-day, five-country trip, the longest Far East itinerary for a president in a generation, comes at a precarious moment for Trump. Just days ago, his former campaign chairman was indicted and another adviser pleaded guilty as part of an investigation into possible collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russian officials.
Trump is set to arrive Sunday in Japan, his first stop. The trip presents a crucial international test for a president looking to reassure Asian allies worried that his inward-looking ‘‘America First’’ agenda could cede power in the region to China.
They also are rattled by his bellicose rhetoric about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The North’s growing missile arsenal threatens the capitals Trump will visit.
‘‘The trip comes, I would argue, at a very inopportune time for the president. He is under growing domestic vulnerabilities that we all know about, hour to hour,’’ said Jonathan Pollack, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. ‘‘The conjunction of those issues leads to the palpable sense of unease about the potential crisis in Korea.’’
During a stopover in Hawaii, the president and first lady Melania Trump paid a visit to the memorial at Pearl Harbor. They tossed white flower petals into the waters above the sunken hull of the USS Arizona. Nearly 1,200 crew members on the battleship died during the Dec. 7, 1941 surprise attack by Japan.
Although the White House has long signaled that it wants to press China and other Asian countries on trade, Trump is not expected to ask the Chinese for any major steps during this trip. Aides said he wants to seek a more thorough change in the trade relationship later.
Trump’s spontaneous, and at time reckless, style flies in the face of the generations-old traditions and protocol that govern diplomatic exchanges in Asia.
The grand receptions expected for him in Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, and beyond are sure to be lavish attempts to impress the president, who raved about the extravagances shown him on earlier visits to Saudi Arabia and France.
The trip will also put Trump in face-to-face meetings with authoritarian leaders for whom he has expressed admiration. They include China’s Xi Jinping, whom Trump has likened to ‘‘a king,’’ and the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte, who has sanctioned the extrajudicial killings of drug dealers.
Trump may also have the chance for a second private audience with Russian President Vladimir Putin, on the sidelines of a summit in Vietnam.
The North Korean threat is expected to dominate the trip. One of Trump’s two major speeches will come before the National Assembly in Seoul. Fiery threats against the North could resonate differently than they do from the distance of Washington.
Trump will forgo a trip to the Demilitarized Zone, the stark border between North and South Korea. All US presidents except one since Ronald Reagan have visited the DMZ in a sign of solidarity with Seoul.
