Trump to visit Saudi Arabia and Israel in first foreign trip

Ttump to visit Middle East

WASHINGTON —

 President Donald Trump will travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel this month, the White House announced Thursday, making the two countries his first foreign destinations since taking office as he seeks to intensify the war against the Islamic State group, rally the region against Iran and negotiate Middle East peace.  

Trump will also visit Rome to meet Pope Francis, completing a tour of the centers of the three major monotheistic religions in what aides said was an effort to seek unity against common enemies. The stops were added to the front of a previously scheduled trip to Brussels and Sicily for back-to-back summit meetings held by NATO and the Group of 7 economic powers.  

Trump has been slow to leave the United States in his presidency; President Barack Obama had already taken three overseas trips, visiting a total of nine foreign countries by this point in his tenure. Moreover, his choice of early stops upended recent presidential tradition of visiting Canada or Mexico before venturing elsewhere.  

Trump has hosted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada at the White House, but relations with both neighbors are tense because of his focus on trade disputes and renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.