met with Japanese and South Korean leaders on Friday as they sought to cement their diplomatic progress ahead of a new Trump administration that many fear could upend alliances worldwide.
The meeting between Washington and two of its closest Asian allies came as US relations with Beijing are expected to grow more confrontational after Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration, given his promises of sharp tariff hikes that could hobble China’s economy. North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and dimming prospects for a peaceful resolution to a decades-long conflict with South Korea are also raising tensions in Asia.
The meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Lima, Peru, brought Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who assumed office in October, together in person for the first time. After the meeting the three countries announced the creation of a Trilateral Secretariat designed to formalize the relationship and make sure it was not just “a series of meetings,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters traveling with Biden aboard Air Force One on Thursday.