In a joint press conference between Prime Minister Abe of Japan and President Trump, the two discussed their shared goals of North Korean denuclearization and improving Indo-American trade relations.
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A united front from Japan and the United States on the DPRK, as their two leaders met for a second day in Florida.
Abe and Trump say Japan’s Economic Revitalization Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will begin talks for free and fair trade.
The Trump administration granted temporary tariff exemptions to several other US allies but not Japan.
The president says he’s seeking to reduce the US trade deficit with Japan and hopes the two countries can move toward “reciprocal” trade. Trump abandoned it during his first weeks in office, saying it was not a good deal for the United States. There’s a chance of having a good dialogue. we’re working very hard on that. Those diplomats then personally delivered to Trump an offer for a meeting with Kim, which the president accepted.
“It is highly unlikely we will see an immediate return of the abductees even if President Trump raises the issue during his summit with Kim”, said Satoru Miyamoto, expert on the North Korean issue at Seigakuin University.
Later Trump suggested there was one area where he and Abe would have to agree to disagree: the Trans-Pacific trade partnership.
Trump said it was clear from their talks that the abductee issue is “one of the truly most important things on Shinzo’s mind”.
“If we don’t think it’s going to be successful, we won’t have it”, the President said, standing alongside his Japanese counterpart at Trump’s oceanfront Mar-a-Lago estate here.
The backdrop of rising trade tensions, stoked by the bitter US-China tariff standoff, have roiled financial markets as investors anxious about their impact on global growth. Our products are high and can’t be replaced.
“It will be a great day for them and a great day for the world”.
“We have been talking about them, we are negotiating now”, Trump told a reporter who asked if the President would insist on the prisoners’ release as a condition of his upcoming meeting with North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un.
“On the USA side, they are interested in a bilateral deal”, Abe told reporters. Exemptions have been granted to several key US allies such as Australia and South Korea, but not to Japan.
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“He just left North Korea, had a great meeting with Kim Jong Un, and got along with him really well, really great”, Trump said. “And I would be looking at sometime in the future to take them off” the tariff list.
