Japan’s love of tiny cars sore spot as Trump, Abe meet

Japanese officials have been soothed by security assurances from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and others. In return he received a golf polo shirt from Trump.

Trump aides did not say whether they took other countries’ standards into consideration in developing the new policy.

“The comments from the Trump administration on Japan and Europe raise this question of whether monetary policy aimed at domestic factors could get you on the wrong side of the Trump White House”, Pimco’s Balls said.

Golf is known around the world as an icebreaker.

Commerce Department data last month showed that Japan had overtaken Germany to have the second-largest trade deficit with the United States of any individual country besides China.

Mattis “made very clear statements about the strength of the alliance, that these alliances and our commitment to them are unwavering”, the senior White House official said. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull got into a testy exchange with Trump during a phone call after the American president questioned a US commitment to help resettle refugees.

Trump reportedly wanted to talk about a bilateral trade deal – that is, a trade agreement between only two countries – connecting the US and Japan. -Japanese economic relationship for the next four years.

Japan posted a trade surplus of 6.8 trillion yen with the United States last year, down 4.6 percent from 2015, but USA -bound vehicle shipments rose for a second straight year, according to Japanese Finance Ministry data.

Social Democratic Party Secretary-General Seiji Mataichi said Tuesday Abe’s bid to leave a favorable impression on Trump was a “disgrace”, compared to the attitude of “stern criticism” from the United States’ European allies.

After Toyota was singled out by Trump for its plans to build a new plant in Mexico, Toyota quickly pledged to invest 10 billion US dollars in the USA over the next five years, in a proposal that will add 400 jobs at its plant in Princeton, Indiana.

“(Trump) must bring Abe up short on any cheery notion that business will continue as usual”, said Kevin L. Kearns, head of the U.S. Business and Industry Council.

Abe and Trump meet on Friday.

The Japanese auto parts supplier, Nisshinbo, also recently scrapped plans for a new production center in Mexico, even though, according to a spokesperson, the country is a preferred location for a North American factory. Abe isn’t asking for any special deals and brings to the table enough firepower to “affect the outcome of the USA economy in size”.

Abe is being accompanied by what Japanese officials tell VOA is a delegation unprecedented in size and scope.

Mr Abe heads to Washington later Thursday for a sit down with the protectionist-leaning U.S. president, who has accused Tokyo of devaluing the yen to boost exports and slammed Toyota over a planned vehicle factory in Mexico.

“During the election campaign Donald Trump misunderstood the defence budget”, one Japanese government official told the Telegraph. The islands are called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

The package, which will be presented at the summit, has been viewed as an attempt to placate Mr Trump, whose economic protectionism risks putting him on a collision course with foreign investors.