WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has staked out uncompromising positions on Asia policy that could potentially strain U.S. relations with the region if he wins the White House.
He says China is ripping off America in trade and should be slapped with a fat import tax. And he claims U.S. military allies Japan and South Korea are freeloading and need to pull their weight. The pan-Pacific trade pact negotiated by the Obama administration is a “total disaster.”
That’s already prompted some sharp commentary from usually friendly countries in Asia, and expressions of contempt from Republican foreign policy hands who have vowed to oppose Trump.