WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump will skip two major summits in Asia in November, sending Vice President Mike Pence instead to meet with the regions' leaders, the White House said Friday.
Pence will travel to Singapore for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, meeting, before heading to Papua New Guinea for an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation gathering.
The decision comes as some in the region question the U.S. commitment after Trump quit talks over the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Asia analysts and even House Speaker Paul Ryan have said the decision was a mistake, partly because the TPP was intended as a counterbalance to China.
After the U.S. withdrawal, trade ministers from the 11 nations that stuck with TPP talks _ Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam _ signed a new agreement in Chile on March 8.
