On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump concluded his four-day visit to Japan, where we became the first foreign leader to greet Japan’s new emperor, Naruhito, along with meeting the country’s prime minister, Shinzō Abe, to discuss the two countries’ relationship.
While much of the trip concerned pleasantries like extravagant dinners and displays of both countries military power. For Japan, the visit was able to showcase the strong bond between the two countries, allowing Abe to show off his political muscles, something he has been attempting to cultivate for a while now.
The trip had Abe give Trump a more American welcome than would be expected in a foreign country, with the prime minister treating Trump to golf, sumo wrestling, and American cheeseburgers. This helps Japan to strengthen its position on trade talks, where much of the world is focusing on trade relations between the US and China. Trump said he hopes to announce a trade deal with Japan soon, and said he wants to remove trade barriers to get more US exports into Japan.
Despite these agreements, there was some dispute over handling of North Korea, with Abe wanting Trump to help in pushing for a denuclearized North Korea, something Trump did not budge on and instead prefers his method involving more appeasement and negotiations over a hard push in one direction or another.
During the trip, Trump continued tweeting about the same kind of issues he tends to tweet about, how bad the Democrats are, how good his administration is doing, and how the media gets things wrong. These tweets were interspersed with tweets concerning his trip to Japan, the good relationship between the two countries, and what events he was attending.
There was also some controversy surrounding the apparent decision to keep the USS John S. McCain away and out of sight from where Trump was addressing the troops, due to Trump’s dislike for the late senator John McCain. However it is unclear how much of that report is actually true, and Trump has stated that did not happen.
