This resource tracked statements, developments, visits, and other interactions in US-Indo-Pacific relations under the President Trump administration. Special focus was given to the comments and activities of President Donald J. Trump; Vice President Mike Pence; United States Trade Representative Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Jr.; former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; former Secretary of Defense James Mattis; and former Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark Esper.
The Trump Administration & US - Indo-Pacific Relations
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Remarks to Airmen at Minot Air Force Base by Vice President Pence
"In the face of ongoing threats and provocations by the regime in North Korea, I can assure you the United States will continue to marshal economic and diplomatic pressure to demand that North Korea abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. President Trump has made clear that the United States has, in his words, 'great strength and patience,' all options are on the table. Our enemies should never doubt the capabilities of the Armed Forces of the United States of America. Anyone who would threaten…
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Remarks by the Vice President to the UN Security Council
"At this very moment in Southeast Asia, we see heartbreak and assaults on human rights and innocent civilians that's ultimately endangering the sovereignty and security of the entire region. In recent weeks, the people of my country and the wider world have witnessed a great tragedy unfolding in Burma with the Rohingya people. Recently, Burmese security forces responded to militant attacks on government outposts with terrible savagery -- burning villages, driving the Rohingya from their homes. The images of the violence and its victims have…
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Vice President Pence’s Call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
"Vice President Mike Pence spoke today with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia. Prime Minister Turnbull offered his sympathy for the Osprey incident off the coast of Queensland, Australia. The two leaders discussed the recent counterterrorism operation in Sydney and agreed on the importance of fighting terrorism and radicalism in all their forms. Vice President Pence and Prime Minister Turnbull also discussed the grave and growing threat North Korea poses to countries near and far. Reflecting on joint counterterrorism initiatives and the shared North Korea…
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Vice President Pence Interview on The Laura Ingraham Show
"The President of the United States and the United States of America ought to be willing to sit down and explore common interests to advance peace and security and prosperity in the world in virtually every case, North Korea being an exception, until, unless and until North Korea permanently abandons its nuclear and ballistic missiles ambitions [...] We’re going to isolate them more and more economically and diplomatically until they agree to do that. We will not negotiate with them to negotiate which is the…
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Remarks by the Vice President to the US-India Business Council
"President Trump recognizes that the United States’ relationship with India is one of the most important strategic relationships in the 21st century. Our two great nations are bound by friendship, by commerce — so well represented by American and Indian businesses here. And we’re partners in the fight against global terrorism and as brothers-and-sisters in the cause of freedom and our commitment to democracy. And today, I say with confidence: Under the leadership of President Donald Trump, our friendship will grow deeper, our partnership will…
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Vice President Remarks at US Chamber of Commerce's Invest in America Summit - China
"The agreement announced last week between America and China [100 day deal] is actually a model of what President Trump will continue to achieve. It opens the path to greater commerce by breaking down barriers to trade and investment in beef, biotechnology, energy, financial services, and more. It was an important accomplishment. I’m confident this agreement will be the first of many -- not only with China but with nations across the wider world."
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Vice President Pence's Remarks at US Chamber of Commerce's Invest in America Summit - Indo-Pacific
"In fact, just last month I traveled to the Asia Pacific on the President’s behalf to promote our economic relationships with South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and Australia. And at the President’s direction, together with Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, I had the privilege of announcing a new U.S.-Japan Economic Dialogue. We look forward to this dialogue, to seeing it progress, and to exploring ways that we can begin similar discussions with other nations around the world, including many of those gathered here."
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Vice President Pence Interview with CBS This Morning - North Korea
"We're not going to negotiate to get at the negotiating table. North Korea knows through U.N. actions in the past, through pronouncements by the world community, they need to abandon their nuclear program, abandon their ballistic missile program, they need to stand down in a very real sense to have the right to engage the world community on the way forward."
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Vice President Pence Interview with CBS This Morning - China and North Korea
"Well, we-- we have word of-- of China turning back coal shipments from North Korea. We have word of them-- beginning to-- reduce the amount of commercial travel that exists between North Korea. But as the secretary of state said at the U.N. last week, China needs to do more. We're calling on our allies in the region to reconsider their diplomatic relations with North Korea. We're-- we're calling on allies in the region to reconsider their guest worker program that provides an enormous amount…
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Vice President Pence's Interview with Face the Nation - Indo-Pacific
"I think there was a great deal of gratitude for the leadership President Trump is providing, and the renewed commitment that we have to our allies in the region. Whether it was my time in South Korea or Japan or Australia...I just heard again and again how grateful the leaders of those countries are to see the resolve the president has to finally bring to a conclusion a 25-year objective of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. [...] But I think they greatly welcome the…