President Donald Trump began his most consequential overseas trip of the year on Thursday with a warm dinner with the prime minister of Australia, a friendly opening act before the impending gauntlet of negotiations on international crises, trade wars and a growing global to-do list.
Trump landed in Osaka, Japan, for the annual Group of 20 summit amid a tropical cyclone that is predicted to turn into a typhoon a possible metaphor for the four days of high-stakes diplomacy that lie ahead.
As his re-election bid heats up, Trump was eager to produce breakthroughs on a series of foreign policy challenges including the showdown between the U.S. and Iran, a trade war with China, the threat of fresh election interference by Russia and stalled nuclear talks with North Korea.
As he faces mounting pressures to deliver results, the president began his battery of meetings with world leaders with a dinner with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
The two men traded praise in the moments of the meal that were open to reporters and Trump said he would "like to" visit Australia later this year for the prestigious Presidents Cup golf tournament.
When asked if his "America First" policies strained traditional alliances, Trump insisted that the two nations "worked together very closely" on trade issues.
"I can say very easily that we've been very good to our allies, we work with our allies, we take care of our allies," Trump said. "I have inherited massive trade deficits with our allies. And we even help our allies militarily. So, we do look at ourselves and we look at ourselves I think more positively than ever before. But we also look at our allies".
The agenda for his four days in Asia is as laden with hazards for the president as it is light on the ceremonial pomp that marked his recent state visits to Japan and the United Kingdom.
But White House officials are playing down prospects of specific accomplishments in what is the president's third international trip in a month, even as Trump himself said of his "competitors" from other nations: "That's OK. We're doing great. We're doing better than any of them."
Trump told reporters as he left the White House that he expects a "very good conversation" with Putin but added that "what I say to him is none of your business."
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content