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While the trip is officially billed as a trade mission, the tour
is widely seen as an attempt to burnish his foreign policy
credentials in the lead-up to an official announcement, expected
in the late spring or early summer.
The governor had said in March that the Ukraine War is a
"territorial dispute" and that it is not of strategic interest
to the United States, a position he has since partially walked
back. Those comments provoked criticism from Democrats and many
Republicans, though it is a stance he shares with about half of
the party's base as well as Republican former President Donald
Trump.
In Japan, DeSantis will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi during his visit on April
24 and 25, the Japanese foreign ministry said. He is then slated
to travel to Seoul, where he will meet with Prime Minister Han
Duck-soo, before continuing to Tel Aviv and London, where he
will talk with a mix of government and business leaders.
Back home in Florida, there are signs he is beginning to build
out a foreign policy apparatus. His political operation is in
the process of bringing on Dustin Carmack, a cybersecurity and
intelligence expert with significant foreign policy experience,
said one person with knowledge of the matter.
DeSantis traveled to Washington earlier this week to meet with
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives. Shortly after
his visit, several representatives from Florida endorsed Trump
in a blow to the governor. DeSantis is set to address an event
hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a major think tank, on
Friday.
(Reporting by Jim Oliphant and Gram Slattery in Washington and
Yukiko Toyoda and Tim Kelly in Tokyo; Editing by Christopher
CushingEditing by Matthew Lewis)
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