Thursday Morning Briefing: Mr. Trump, there's a Shinzo Abe here to see you. www.reuters.com
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today, Trump's first meeting with a foreign leader since being elected. But as of last night, Japanese officials didn't know where or when the meeting would take place. Nor did they know who would be attending. The expected topics up for discussion, however, are well known: The nature of the alliance between the United States and Japan. During the campaign, Trump raised questions:
"If somebody attacks Japan, we have to immediately go and start World War III, okay? If we get attacked, Japan doesn't have to help us. Somehow, that doesn't sound so fair." – Donald Trump, Dec. 30, 2015, Hilton Head, South Carolina.
"You're going to have to ask yourself, at what point and at what cost do we continue to protect Japan, Germany and many other countries. They're not paying for the protection anywhere near what it's costing us." – Donald Trump, Face The Nation, CBS News, April 3, 2016
Katsuyuki Kawai, an adviser to Abe sent to set up the Trump meeting, said he had spoken to several Trump advisers since arriving in Washington on Monday.
"I have been meeting with so many top aides to the president-elect and also I have been meeting with the very distinguished senators and congressmen and they unanimously told me that we don’t have to take each word that Mr. Trump said publicly literally."
Published Date:2016-11-17