Taiwan’s President Cancels Latin America Trip After Trump Reportedly Nixes US Stopover

Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te has pulled the plug on a planned diplomatic tour of Latin America, after his expected transit through the US was reportedly blocked by President Donald Trump.

Lai had been preparing to visit Paraguay, Guatemala, and Belize in early August, with layovers in New York and Dallas on the way there and back. But according to The Financial Times, US officials objected to the New York stop, prompting the Taiwanese leader to call the whole trip off.

While Lai’s office never formally confirmed the itinerary, the president’s team said Monday he was staying put to focus on tariff negotiations with Washington and lead post-typhoon recovery efforts in southern Taiwan.

Under longstanding US policy, Taiwan’s presidents aren’t permitted to make official visits to the US, which doesn’t recognize Taiwan diplomatically. Still, transit stops have long been a workaround. In 2023, then-President Tsai Ing-wen met US lawmakers in New York and Los Angeles during layovers — sparking a furious military response from China, which claims the self-ruled island as its territory.

Beijing followed Tsai’s visit with live-fire drills near the Taiwan Strait, a tactic it’s used more frequently in recent years as tensions rise.

The Trump administration’s move to deny Lai’s stopover comes as the US president is reportedly eyeing a trip to China himself — a possible visit that could coincide with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea this fall.

Trump, though, denied that any summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping is in the works.

“The Fake News is reporting that I am SEEKING a ‘Summit’ with President Xi of China. This is not correct, I am not SEEKING anything! I may go to China, but it would only be at the invitation of President Xi, which has been extended,” he posted on Truth Social late Monday.

Whether that trip happens could hinge on the outcome of high-stakes trade talks between Washington and Beijing. Negotiators are meeting this week in Stockholm to try to wrap up a tariff deal before the current “truce” expires on August 12. But with sticking points like export controls still unresolved, the clock is ticking.

With input from Al Jazeera