Trump in Japan to make trade ties 鈥榝air鈥
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US President Donald Trump on Saturday vowed to make the US trade relationship with Japan a “little bit more fair” as he kicked off a four-day visit to Tokyo aimed at cementing ties between the two close allies.
Trump’s four-day trip is expected to feature plenty of warm words and images as he plays golf and watches sumo with his “friend” Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister.
But the world’s top and third-biggest economies are also thrashing out a trade deal and Trump wasted no time in lashing out at what he sees as an imbalance between the pair.
“Japan has had a substantial edge for many, many years. But that’s OK, maybe that’s why you like us so much,” Trump told leaders from some of Japan’s leading companies, including Toyota, Honda and Nissan.
After a bilateral trade deal has been signed, it will be “a little bit more fair,” vowed the president.
“With this deal we hope to address the trade imbalance, remove the barriers to United States exports and ensure fairness and reciprocity in our relationship. We’re getting close,” said Trump.
“We hope to have several further announcements soon and some very big ones over the next few months.”
Some observers suspect Abe is rolling out the red carpet to present Japan as the most favorable of the countries currently engaged in trade disputes with Washington but little concrete progress is expected with elections looming for the Japanese PM.
Japanese and US officials hail as “unprecedented” the relationship between Trump and his “golf buddy” Abe, and the pair are scheduled to again find time for a round to burnish their diplomatic bromance.
Just over an hour before Trump arrived, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake rattled Tokyo, with the epicenter very close to where the leaders are due to tee off.
The official centerpiece of the trip is Trump’s meeting today with Japan’s new Emperor Naruhito, who only ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne at the beginning of the month following his father’s historic abdication for health reasons.
But the visual highlight of his visit was to the final day of the summer “basho,” or sumo tournament yesterday, where he presented the trophy to the winner. Japanese wrestler Asanoyama received the President’s Cup — weighing 27-32 kilos and measuring 1.4 meters.
Abe has just recently returned from Washington and Trump himself is coming back to Japan in just over a month for the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in the western city of Osaka.
The relationship between the former war-time foes “has never been stronger, has never been more powerful, has never been closer,” Trump said.
The formal diplomatic part of the trip is limited to a short bilateral meeting and a working lunch today, after which the two leaders will brief the media.
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