NEW YORK: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he believes Donald Trump is a leader in whom he can have great confidence after meeting with the president-elect Thursday.
Abe, who became the first world leader to meet with Trump since his election, was seeking reassurances over the future of US-Japan security and trade relations. He described the meeting as “really, really cordial” but offered few details of their discussion.
“I do believe that without confidence between the two nations (the) alliance would never function in the future and as an outcome of today’s discussion I am convinced Mr. Trump is a leader with whom I can have great confidence in,” Abe said at a press conference following the meeting, where he took only two questions.
Abe said the meeting renewed his conviction that he would be able to establish a relationship of confidence with Trump.
Abe met with Trump in New York, where the incoming president is working on setting up an administration after his surprise election victory last week that has injected new uncertainty into old US alliances. The Trump transition team provided no readout of the meeting.
Trump’s campaign rhetoric caused consternation in many world capitals, including Tokyo. He has said he would demand that allies such as Japan and South Korea contribute more to the cost of basing US troops in their countries.
Such comments have worried Japan at a time when the threat from North Korea is rising, and China is challenging the US-led security status quo in the Pacific.
