JAPAN/NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on April 26 to discuss trade and efforts to contain North Korea’s nuclear program, a U.S. official said on Wednesday [4-27-19]. Abe is one of Trump’s closest allies on the world stage and the U.S. president is planning to visit Tokyo in late May. Japan was the first stop on Trump’s November 2017 Asia tour and the two leaders played golf. A similar golf outing could be in the offing for Abe’s visit to Washington. In Tokyo, Trump plans to greet Crown Prince Naruhito, who will become emperor on May 1, a day after the abdication of his father, Emperor Akihito. That visit could include a Trump-Abe visit to a sumo championship. The White House declined to comment. Japan’s foreign and defense ministers will meet with their U.S. counterparts in Washington on Friday [4-19-19], the U.S. State Department said. Trump has touted his good relationship with Abe, which has seen closer security ties given shared concerns about China’s growing power, but he has also made clear he is unhappy with Japan’s trade surplus with the United States, which was $67.6 billion in goods in 2018, according to U.S. figures.”
–Reuters, “Trade, North Korea on Agenda for Abe-Trump White House Meeting April 26,” The New York Times online, April 17, 2019