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Trump plans Mideast trip, Vatican visit
Saudi Arabia, Israel also on itinerary in 1st stops overseas
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The nine-day trip will start in the Sunni Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where the most revered sites in Islam are located. From there, Trump heads to Israel, still diplomatically ostracized by much of the Arab world.
In Israel and in the Palestinian territories, he will have to balance the conflicting interests of both sides as he seeks to revive peace negotiations.
Next comes a stop May 24 at the Vatican to meet Pope Francis, whom Trump last year called “disgraceful” for challenging the then-candidate’s pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The trip ends with previously announced meetings with NATO leaders May 25 in Brussels and the Group of Seven world economic powers May 26-27 in Sicily.
Since foreign travel by a sitting U.S. president became routine, most went abroad quickly after taking office — even if only as far as Mexico or Canada. The last president not to leave the United States in his first 100 days was Jimmy Carter, who waited until May to visit the United Kingdom for an economic summit.
President Barack Obama had traveled to nine nations by the time his first four months had elapsed.
The president took the rare step of announcing his travel plans himself, in the Rose Garden on Thursday at an event with religious leaders.
“America can be first but still be a global leader,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a later briefing with reporters. “America has to be a global leader.”
Three administration officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the overarching goal of the trip was to demonstrate an America “regaining strategic confidence” in the world.
Trump is scheduled to leave Washington on May 19, they said.
“American leadership has a lot to do with the ability to combine diplomacy with economic strength, the ability to communicate effectively, and to build relationships with leaders and with peoples,” one of the officials said. “It also has a lot to do with the willingness to use military force when it’s necessary.”
In some respects, the Saudi and Israeli stopovers may be quite comfortable territory for Trump. For one, both are states with high levels of security and can easily keep any protests at bay.
In all likelihood, nowhere outside the United States will Trump be better received than in Israel, given his support for the conservative government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu, who visibly disdained Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, can be expected to welcome the new president.
A high-profile first stop in Saudi Arabia, a theocracy whose record on human rights and treatment of women often comes under sharp international criticism, was an unusual choice for a U.S. leader. But there, too, officials felt estranged from Obama and eager to host a new American president.
Discussions with the oil-rich kingdom’s leadership began shortly after the election, initiated by the Saudis with a goal of starting “a new relationship with America,” a senior administration official said. Those talks ultimately led to plans for a summit between the president and Muslim leaders focused on how to defeat Islamic State and confront the larger threat of radicalization.
The most awkward stop for Trump is likely to be the Vatican.
Trump met Thursday with a delegation of Roman Catholic cardinals and other church leaders, and may have been briefed on papal protocol.
Francis has criticized Trump’s hostile views toward Mexicans and immigrants, and especially his pledge to build a massive wall separating the United States and Mexico.
“A person who only thinks about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” the pontiff said in February 2016 — a view he repeated after the president’s inauguration.
Then-candidate Trump shot back in terms a politician has rarely used about a pope. “For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful,” Trump said, calling himself a “good Christian.”