U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Vice President Mike Pence at his side as holds an event to sign Congress' $1.3 trillion spending bill in the Diplomatic Room of the White House in Washington. U.S., March 23, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will take the place of President Donald Trump at a summit in Lima, Peru, this weekend, but will not travel to Bogota, Colombia, as Trump had originally planned, a spokeswoman for the vice president said on Tuesday.

Trump canceled his first official trip to the region on Tuesday to focus on responding to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Pence has asked to meet with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Lima, the spokeswoman said. Pence traveled to Cartagena, Colombia as part of a Latin American trip last year.