The White House said that President Barack Obama's Australia and Indonesia trip this month was still on, despite speculation he may delay it again, this time over the BP oil spill.
The president had been due to travel to Indonesia, where he spent four years as a child, and Canberra and Sydney in March, but was forced to put the journey off, at a crucial moment of his successful push for health care reform.
The trip was expected to take place in the next few weeks, but the White House is facing questions about whether Obama will choose to stay home and deal with fallout from the worst environmental disaster in US history.
Obama's political handlers may judge that it would look bad for the president to head abroad while the oil disaster unfolds back home.
His deputy spokesman Bill Burton said the trip was still scheduled, but appeared to indicate some discussions may have taken place about cancelling it.
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"Well, obviously, there's a lot of reasons to take the trip," Burton said aboard Air Force One as Obama headed for a speech on the economy in Pittsburgh.
"Regardless of any discussions that might have been had on that, as it stands the trip is still on schedule." No official schedule of the visit has yet been released by the White House.
The decision to cancel the trip in March slowed Obama's effort to intensify US engagement with the dynamic Asia Pacific region.
The postponement showed how domestic politics can sometimes constrain a US president's global engagement - especially during his first term when his political plate is piled high.
Obama had been due at a state dinner in Indonesia, to hold talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta, travel to Bali, before heading to Canberra for talks with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and an address for the Australian parliament.
He planned to stress Indonesia's emerging economic weight and the role of the world's most populous Muslim nation in battling extremism, as well as to build on his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo last year.
In Australia, Obama's aides had said he would focus on strong US-Australia trade links and would mark the 70th anniversary of the US-Australia alliance.
