Gov. Glenn Youngkin will travel to Asia next week to satisfy with political and business leaders, adding more fuel to speculation that the Virginia Republican is considering a run for president.
Youngkin will lead a state delegation on a trade-focused visit that features stops in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. The group will meet with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei City, together with a spread of unnamed executives and leaders in Tokyo and Seoul, Youngkin’s office said in a press release.
The trip, announced earlier this month, will occur at the identical time that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, seen as former President Donald Trump’s biggest potential challenger for the 2024 GOP nomination, can also be set to travel on a trade mission overseas.
Youngkin framed the visit, his first to Asia as governor, as a probability to strengthen his state’s supply chains within the semiconductor, pharmaceutical and automotive industries.
“I will put our greatest forward to have that foreign direct investment come to Virginia,” Youngkin, a former co-CEO of Carlyle Group, said during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday.
The planned six-day international visit, set to kick off Monday, prompted questions on whether he had presidential ambitions. Youngkin did little to extinguish that speculation when CNBC pressed him about his political plans.
“I even have an ideal job and I’m very focused on doing it well,” Youngkin said Friday when asked a few Politico report from last month titled, “Why Glenn Youngkin Would Be Crazy To not Run for President.”
When asked whether it was true or false that there was a 0% probability Youngkin would run for the White House in 2024, the governor replied: “I feel that true and false questions are a idiot’s errand.”
He added: “I’m 100% focused on Virginia’s general assembly races in 2023.”
Youngkin’s office has noted that Virginia is home to 5 business establishments from from Taiwan, 133 from Japan and 25 from South Korea.
Youngkin, who flipped Virginia red when he won the race for governor in 2021, is one in all a handful of Republicans who’re being eyed as possible contenders within the 2024 presidential race. Others include former Vice President Mike Pence and former Recent Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Among the many GOP candidates who’ve officially thrown their hats within the ring, Trump is taken into account the clear frontrunner. Polls show Trump’s biggest competition is DeSantis, who is anticipated to announce his presidential plans after his state’s current legislative session ends in May.
DeSantis announced Thursday that he’ll set off on his own international trip next week, making stops in Japan, South Korea, Israel and the UK.
The Florida governor quickly rose to prominence within the Republican Party through his high-profile fights on hot-button cultural issues. But he has weathered a torrent of negative press in recent weeks as critics panned his remarks on Ukraine and Trump’s indictment, in addition to his recent moves in a bitter feud with Disney. (Youngkin on Friday dodged CNBC’s questions concerning the Disney-DeSantis fight.)
This week, Trump, who had just pleaded not guilty to dozens of charges of falsifying business records in Recent York, won a spate of endorsements from Florida Republicans even after DeSantis traveled to Washington, D.C., to court support.
