President Trump will travel to Peru next month to attend the Summit of the Americas, marking his first visit to South America since he became president.
President Trump will travel to Peru next month to attend the Summit of the Americas, marking his first visit to South America since he became president.
Trump plans to meet with Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and travel to Colombia after the summit, according to the White House.
“This travel demonstrates the President’s resolve to deepen our historical ties with our partners in the region and to strengthen our joint commitment to improve security and prosperity for the people of the Americas,” press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
U. S. presidents have attended all seven of the previous summits.
This year’s eighth summit, held in Lima on April 13 and 14, will gather 35 heads of state from the Americas — ranging from Mexico to Venezuela — to discuss policy issues and concerns.
Some of the leaders attending are likely to voice criticism of the president’s immigration policies, his proposal to build a wall along the Mexican border or his recently announced tariffs.
Eleven Pacific Rim countries — including Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru — signed a free trade agreement without the U. S. on Thursday, just a few hours before Trump formally announced his tariffs on aluminum and steel.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro isn’t invited to the summit but Maduro has said he will get to the summit “by air, land or sea” to make his case for the events in Venezuela, Bloomberg reported. The U. S. is putting pressure on Maduro to return power to citizens.
