Trump to flex muscles on Asia tour after midterms losses

Detailed summary

The US President heads to ASEAN summit in the Philippines and APEC summit in China after the Democrats seized both the House of Representatives and Senate ...

After his party suffered a midterms hammering, US President Donald Trump faces a new challenge: proving he is still the boss of US foreign policy on the global stage.

With Trump politically hamstrung as he enters the remaining two-year 'lame duck' period of his White House tenure, world leaders may be quietly wondering how to leverage the new balance of power in Washington.

The 80-year-old Republican heads to the ASEAN summit in the Philippines and APEC summit in China from a radically transformed and hostile political landscape at home after the Democrats seized both the House of Representatives and Senate.

Constitutionally banned from seeking a third term in the 2028 presidential race, the unpredictable billionaire could be all the more inclined to focus his energy on the international stage.

"After bad midterms, this is how presidents reset," Edgard Kagan, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told a news briefing.

That is especially true for Trump on his Asian tour, where he is unlikely to be pressed publicly on domestic politics.

China has described the midterms as an "internal affair" and said it is "willing to continue working" with the United States after Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress.

But the power shift in Washington will still be on leaders' radars, said Joshua Kurlantzick, an expert in Southeast Asia and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"In private, many (Asian) leaders are relieved," Kurlantzick wrote in an article this month.

Opening of the article, excerpted from Khaleej Times. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.