Turnbull: US will soon see that engaging Asia is the way forward

Singapore

AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is confident that the United States under the new Trump administration will come to realise that the US's own national interests demand greater - not less - engagement with Asia, making this point the day the US pulled out of the Paris Agreement on climate change, and four months after Washington's withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.

Mr Turnbull said that while it is disappointing that the US has withdrawn from the TPP and the Paris accord, Asia-Pacific nations should not rush to strike their own separate deals with Uncle Sam.