WASHINGTON, d.c.: President Barack Obama scrapped trips to two key Asian summits on Thursday (Friday in Manila), blaming the United Sstates (US) government shutdown for the cancellation of a tour designed to advance a central prong of his foreign policy.

After days of speculation that the trip was in jeopardy following the shutdown crisis, a White House statement on Thursday confirmed Obama would miss the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Bali and the East Asia summit in Brunei next week.

Premium + Digital Edition

Ad-free access


P 80 per month
(billed annually at P 960)
  • Unlimited ad-free access to website articles
  • Limited offer: Subscribe today and get digital edition access for free (accessible with up to 3 devices)

TRY FREE FOR 14 DAYS
See details
See details