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U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe answer reporters’ questions in a joint press conference expected to address the upcoming summit with North Korea and trade tensions with China.
Abe and Trump have generally been on good terms compared with previous U.S. presidents, making the Japanese prime minister a more frequent visitor to the White House than in the past, according to a report by The Washington Post.
Japanese officials, however, are worried that the relationship will not be enough to protect Japan’s interests at the highly-anticipated summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12.
Trump had previously mentioned in a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in that Japan would “invest very, very large sums of money into helping to make North Korea great again.”
This, along with the Trump administration’s “America First” policy, has increased Japanese concerns that their interests would be ignored, and they would be forced to pay for a North Korean recovery, the Post reported.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has indicated that negotiations with North Korea have been directed toward ending nuclear weapons programs targeted toward the U.S. homeland, not including allies, meaning that North Korea would still have the capability to target Tokyo.
Additionally, Japanese officials are concerned about escalating tensions over trade between the U.S. and China.
