Trump 'escapes' US for nine-day, five-country foreign debut

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has embarked on his first trip abroad, departing Friday on a five-nation, nine-day swing that will take him away from the political tempest in Washington DC to unfamiliar foreign policy waters that he has repeatedly stirred and muddied with unconventional and controversial remarks.

Deviating from the standard template of U.S Presidents typically visiting neighboring Canada or Mexico first, Trump headed out to Saudi Arabia first to engage with a shifty ally that grew increasingly estranged during the Obama years. Although Trump himself antagonized much of the Muslim world with harsh remarks about Islam during his presidential campaign, making Riyadh his first stop – underwritten by a $ 100 billion arms deal engineered by his son-in-law

Jared Kushner

– virtually restores the House of Saud to a pre-eminent position it enjoyed before.

Given his hostile comments about Islam and his rattling the

NATO

cage – he will also go to Brussels for a NATO summit – the U.S President’s words and actions will be closely watched through the trip, including in Israel where he is said to have upset his hosts by reportedly discussing with Russians classified intelligence on ISIS given by Tel Aviv. Washington’s NATO partners will also closely scrutinize a leader who has gone back and forth on the Alliance’s salience after calling it ''obsolete'' during his Presidential campaign, and at other times demanding that they pony up protection money. Many NATO allies are said to be concerned that Trump's remarks on the alliance and his own domestic troubles are undermining U.S power and image against a rising China and resurgent Russia.

In Riyadh, Trump is scheduled to give a speech on Islam - a religion he repeatedly associated with terrorism by emphasizing the expression ''radical Islamic terrorism'' - at a lunch with leaders of more than 50 majority-Muslim countries from around the world chosen and invited by Saudi Arabia, it’s client state Pakistan among them. Pakistan’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to seek out Trump for a separate meeting during the summit.

Overnight stops in Jerusalem and the Vatican will follow the Riyadh visit, completing what U.S officials have proclaimed is a tour of three major world faiths – Islam, Judaism, and Christianity – in four days to give a ''historic'' message of religious tolerance, a remarkable turnaround for someone who appeared so antagonistic and nativist during the presidential campaign trail. The trip concludes with Trump attending the summit of the Group of Seven (G-7) leading industrialized nations in Sicily amid tattle that it could be expanded to include Russia and China.

Trump is accompanied by his wife Melania and his entire A-team, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, giving him some relief from the heated political atmosphere in Washington DC where he has had a torrid week. But his travails in the capital will continue to be in the news with his purported nemesis former FBI Director James Comey expected to testify on the

Hill

sometime next week.

Still, the nine-day sortie will provide Trump an opportunity to showcase the international relations chops that he has boasted about -- from promising easy-peasy solutions in the middle-east, including for the Israel-Palestine issue, to uniting the Gulf states. But Trump will be tailed by an increasingly hostile American media that he has declared war against, and they will be watching hawk-eyed for the slightest gaffe – something the U.S President has shown a penchant for.

Trump made light of his travails – and travels. “Getting ready for my big foreign trip. Will be strongly protecting American interests - that's what I like to do!” he tweeted shortly before heading out to Air Force One.