Trump: The Reset Tour

Here’s a list of countries President Trump visited in 2017, the first year as President.

May

Saudi Arabia, Israel, Palestine: Trump broke tradition by choosing the Middle East as his first foreign Presidential trip. The visit signaled a strong pivot to reinforcing US alliances in the region to isolate Iran and promote business such as arms sales and energy ties.

Europe (Vatican City, NATO HQ in Belgium, G7 Summit held in Italy): He clashed with European allies over trade deficits, defense spending, and the Paris Agreement. The world panicked that the US is serious about shifting toward a nationalist approach.

July

Europe (Poland, G20 Summit held in Germany, France): He clashed with Merkel and urged Europe to spend more on defense.

November

Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Philippine: Surprisingly, Trump didn’t make extreme headlines during his visit to China. He and Xi Jinping seemed to respect each other and had a good time together. So, it seemed like out of nowhere when Trump escalated the trade war in 2018. On the other hand, other Asian countries experienced Trump’s transactional foreign doctrines that are different from the US’s traditional foreign diplomacy.

The Reset Tour showed the world Trump’s priorities (It wasn’t until 2018 summer that he visited Canada and the UK) and his view on the key topics such as alliance, trade, climate, immigration, and tech. (For his plan to decouple from China, we had to wait until 2018 to find out his real intentions.)

Since he started his 2nd term, Trump travelled to Rome and Vatican City for the funeral of Pope Fancis. Soon after, he just completed a four-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE. Still, it is only early May.

Which countries are most likely to be added to the new Reset Tour? He is expected to attend multilateral meetings, the G7 summit (Canada, early June), the NATO summit (Netherlands, late June), and the G20 summit (South Africa, late November).

However, it is widely known that Trump prefers direct showdowns over backchannel diplomacy and demands a deal-style spectacle instead of multilateral cooperation. So, it would be more than symbolic when the US schedules future trips for the rest of 2025. Here are the potential candidates with pressing topics that could dominate US diplomacy for the rest of 2025.

India: Promote India as an Asian anchor for America’s Indo-Pacific strategy to contain China.

Eastern Europe: Showcase them as ideal allies, sharing conservative alignment and boosting defense capabilities, and use them as leverage to undermine Western Europe’s influence.

Mexico: It is directly tied to Trump's core domestic policies, such as immigration, drugs, and trade. The visit to Mexico could be helpful for the US domestic politics if the visit is handled well.

China and Russia must be on the top of priority list. However, the visits are unlikely because the US is not ready to extract a win yet. The traditional allies (Australia, Japan, South Korea) are probably low priority also because they are not subject to dramatic, quick wins.