Trump to make his first foreign trip as president

Donald Trump’s first foreign trip as U.S. president will not be in neighboring Canada or Mexico like all other American presidents since Ronald Reagan, Interfax reported.

Trump will go first to Saudi Arabia, where he will be welcomed by King Salman. The Saudi leader is organizing a greeting committee of as many 20 other heads of state representing a large percentage of the world’s 1.5 billion Sunni Muslims.

Robert Satloff is head of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He thinks the trip will show how Trump’s policies on the Middle East are different from those of former president Barack Obama.

“The most useful way to look at President Trump’s strategy is to see him as the anti-Obama,” Satloff says.

Satloff also says “Obama made a purposeful effort to talk directly to the people. His first trip to the Middle East included speeches not to national assemblies and parliaments but to universities where he could talk over the heads of the leaders. He wanted to create a new balance in the Arab world, characterized by speaking to people rather than leaders. Trump wants to undo all that.”

Trump’s aides believe his visit to Riyadh is a chance for him to improve relations with Muslims. During the 2016 election campaign, Trump made critical comments about Muslims. And he began his presidency with an announcement of a temporary ban on Muslim refugees and visas for people from several Muslim-majority countries.