Trump welcomes Abe with warm hug
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with a brotherly hug and warm words of admiration, as he ditched previously hardcharging rhetoric toward Tokyo during a White House summit.
Trump praised his guest’s “strong hands”, the pair’s “very, very good chemistry” and rolled out a White House military honour guard in a remarkable public display of diplomatic affection.
“When I greeted him today at the car,” Trump said after an Oval Office meeting, “I shook hands, but I grabbed him and hugged him, because that’s the way we feel.”
The odd political couple had lunch at the White House before heading to Trump’s MaraLago estate in Florida for further talks and a round of golf yesterday.
The sporting gambit recalled the diplomatic exploits of Abe’s grandfather, prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, who once donned a polo shirt to play with avid golfer president Dwight Eisenhower.
Abe is in the United States on a similar charm offensive.
Then, the topic was postwar reconciliation. The Japanese leader is trying to build a personal rapport with the mercurial new US president and head off simmering disputes.
Ties have been strained by Trump’s willingness to question US defence commitments and his rejection of a transPacific trade deal. Plans under consideration in the White House propose a substantial hike of import tariffs that could have a serious impact on Japanese manufacturers.
Abe dodged questions about the trade deal, instead dispatching a slew of compliments.
“Donald, Mr President, you are an excellent businessman,” he said, praising Trump on everything from his meteoric political rise to his golf game.
Abe’s efforts appeared to have paid off. After some tough antiJapanese rhetoric on the campaign trail, Trump embraced longstanding defence agreements and “free, fair and reciprocal” trade.
“We’re committed to the security of Japan,” Trump said.