Abe, Trump to confirm acceleration of trade negotiations

May 24, 2019

Tokyo--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump at their meeting in Tokyo next week are expected to affirm that the two countries will speed up their trade talks in an effort to reach an agreement at an early date.

The bilateral summit will start on Monday morning and last about two hours, according to the schedule of events during Trump's four-day visit to Japan from Saturday, announced by the Japanese government on Thursday.

The meeting, which will take place over lunch, will be followed by a joint press conference by the two leaders on Monday afternoon.

At the talks, Abe and Trump are expected to coordinate their countries' policies on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, taking into consideration North Korea's firing of short-range ballistic missiles earlier this month and other developments related to the country.

They will also likely reconfirm cooperation for resolving the issue of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea decades ago and discuss matters linked to a free and open Indo-Pacific region, a vision shared by Japan and the United States.

Abe apparently hopes to secure Trump's promise to cooperate for the success of the summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies in the western Japan city of Osaka on June 28-29.

Ahead of the joint press conference, Abe and Trump will meet with relatives of victims of the North Korean abduction.

Trump and his wife, Melania, will arrive in Japan on Saturday afternoon, visiting the country as the first state guests since its new era, Reiwa, started on May 1, when new Japanese Emperor Naruhito assumed the throne.

On Sunday, Trump will watch final-day matches of the 15-day summer grand professional sumo tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan arena in Tokyo after playing golf with Abe in Chiba Prefecture, east of the capital.

The leaders, Melania and Abe's wife, Akie, will have dinner together in Tokyo on Sunday evening.

On Monday, ahead of the bilateral summit, Trump will meet with Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako at the Imperial Palace in central Tokyo. He will attend an Imperial banquet at the palace that night.

On Tuesday, the final day of the trip, Trump will receive words of farewell from the Emperor and the Empress at the hotel where he will stay.

Trump will then inspect with Abe the Izumo-class destroyer Kaga of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force at the Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, before leaving Japan. Jiji Press