Pence thanks US military members during stop in Hawaii

The United States’ efforts to curb North Korea’s nuclear and weapons programs dominated the trip, which put Pence in Asia shortly after Kim Jong Un’s regime unsuccessfully launched a ballistic missile.

For Pence, the trip offered evidence that the former governor has become one of President Donald Trump’s chief emissaries on the world stage, patching up relations, reassuring allies still wondering what to expect from Trump and diving into international crises like North Korea.

During the trip, Pence delivered North Korea a stern warning: that “all options are on the table” when it comes to curbing the North’s nuclear ambitions. He told foreign leaders the Trump administration would seek support from its allies to pressure Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

Pence’s early foreign travel schedule has contrasted sharply with a mostly homebound Trump, who is not scheduled to travel overseas until late May for NATO meetings in Belgium and a gathering of the Group of Seven major industrial nations in Italy. Pence partly covered that ground when he visited Germany and Belgium in February.

Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, had visited nine countries by late April 2009, his first three months in office, checking in with allies such as Canada, Britain and Germany. The last first-term president to wait until May to take his first foreign trip was Jimmy Carter in 1977.

Pence postponed a visit to the USS Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor on Tuesday to return to Washington for what’s expected to be a busy week on Capitol Hill with the threat of a government shutdown if there’s no agreement on spending priorities.

Trump has pushed for a large increase in military spending and Pence noted during the lunch that he would be returning to Washington to work on a supplemental Pentagon funding package. The plan, while still subject to negotiations, could top $15 billion.

“The president truly believes that the time has come for us to rebuild this military,” Pence said.

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Ken Thomas, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Pence thanks US military members during stop in Hawaii

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