"The President made this decision based on the difficulty in moving forward with foreign travel in the face of a shutdown."
Obama was due to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali on October 7-8, followed by the summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on October 9-10 in Brunei.
But the president was facing a crisis at home after a budget deadlock in Congress led to a shutdown of some federally funded agencies earlier this week.
On Wednesday Obama cancelled his visits to Malaysia and the Philippines, scheduled for the same trip.
The US would send Secretary of State John Kerry to all of the South-East Asian appointments, Washington said.
"The President looks forward to continuing his work with our allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific and to returning to the region at a later date."
The statement blamed the US Republican Party for the stalemate.
"The cancellation of this trip is another consequence of the House Republicans forcing a shutdown of the government," it said.
"This completely avoidable shutdown is setting back our ability to create jobs through promotion of US exports and advance US leadership and interests in the largest emerging region in the world."
More about:
