Trump Meets With First Foreign Leader

By Elizabeth Northey 11/21/16

President Elect Donald Trump has met the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe – being the first time Trump has connected with a world leader. The two met in New York Thursday in Japan’s effort to keep the United States as a close ally.

Prime Minister Abe suggested the meeting in his congratulatory phone call to the President-elect two days after the election according to the Prime Minister’s aid, Tomohiko Taniguchi.

The meeting results from Abe being concerned about many of Trump’s remarks involving Japan’s lack of action to North Korea’s nuclear program. The Prime Minister stated before the election that regardless of whom the next president is the U.S.-Japan alliance will be pertinent in Japan’s diplomacy.  Since the election, Abe has been quoted saying, “The alliance becomes alive only when there is trust between us. I would like to build such a trust with Mr. Trump.”

Japan has been speculating about which of Trump’s policy claims they will see enacted once he’s in office – especially one claim that Trump would withdraw U.S. troops from that region. Multiple members of Trump’s transition team assured Abe that his remarks should not be taken literally.