by
Hans Izaak Kriek*
In November, Abe became the first foreign head of state to meet Trump in New York after his election, though the meeting stirred controversy because of the fact Ivanka Trump sat on the meeting, along with her husband, Jared Kushner, who is now a senior adviser to Trump. According to a readout from the White House, the president reaffirmed 'ironclad US commitment' to Japan's security. Prime Minister Abe became the second world leader to meet with Trump at the White House.
He had already succeeded in his key goal for the visit: demonstrating a friendship with Trump. “I shook hands but I grabbed him and hugged him because that's the way we feel," Trump later said. "We have a very, very good bond, very, very good chemistry." As they stood in the East Room talking questions, Abe effusively praised Trump, who in their private meeting had reaffirmed the US would join Japan in defence of the SenKaku Islands, which are also claimed by China.
He had already succeeded in his key goal for the visit: demonstrating a friendship with Trump. “I shook hands but I grabbed him and hugged him because that's the way we feel," Trump later said. "We have a very, very good bond, very, very good chemistry." As they stood in the East Room talking questions, Abe effusively praised Trump, who in their private meeting had reaffirmed the US would join Japan in defence of the SenKaku Islands, which are also claimed by China.
"With President Trump talking on the leadership, I'm sure there will be major scale infrastructure investments will be made, including the high-speed train, "Abe said, promoting his country's high-speed technology. "Japan, with our high level of technical capability, we will be able to contribute to President Trump's grow strategy," Abe added, touting how his own agenda could contribute to Trump's. "There will be even more new jobs being born in the United States."
It was, in many respects, a special day in South Florida. It started with Trump's high-fiving Japanese Prime Minister Abe on a Trump-branded golf course at a morning event that the media was kept from witnessing. It ended with Trump summoning the same reporters to another Trump owned property, where the president put on another display of friendship for Abe: a pledge at a late-night news conference to stand by Japan '100 percent' in the wake of North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch.
Trump goes to NATO and G7 Summit in May
The relations between Trump and the EU aren't very good. The EU leaders are not amused about the president of the United States. The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, branded the US a threat, as the backlash against Trump administration's stance on issues such as immigration, NATO and European sovereignty intensified across the continent.
That's a totally different behavior than Japan shows. In a harshly worded open letter to 27 European Union heads of state and government, Donald Tusk wrote that 'worrying declarations' by the new US administration were making EU's future 'highly unpredictable'. "For the first time in our history, in an increasingly multipolar external world, so many are becoming openly anti-European, or Eurosceptic at best, "Tusk wrote. "Particularly the change in Washington puts the European Union in a difficult situation; with the new administration seeming to put into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy." Tusk, said the external threat posed by the US administration was among geopolitical conditions that include an assertive China, especially on the seas, Russian aggression toward Ukraine and its neighbors and anarchy in the Middle East and Africa, with radical Islam playing a major role.
That's a totally different behavior than Japan shows. In a harshly worded open letter to 27 European Union heads of state and government, Donald Tusk wrote that 'worrying declarations' by the new US administration were making EU's future 'highly unpredictable'. "For the first time in our history, in an increasingly multipolar external world, so many are becoming openly anti-European, or Eurosceptic at best, "Tusk wrote. "Particularly the change in Washington puts the European Union in a difficult situation; with the new administration seeming to put into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy." Tusk, said the external threat posed by the US administration was among geopolitical conditions that include an assertive China, especially on the seas, Russian aggression toward Ukraine and its neighbors and anarchy in the Middle East and Africa, with radical Islam playing a major role.
President Trump announced in the mean time to go to Brussels NATO summit in May, when he will officially open the new build NATO headquarters. He discussed with NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg 'how to encourage all NATO members to meet their defence spending commitments' and the potential for a peaceful resolution of the conflict along the Ukrainian border, according to the White House. During his campaign, Trump set off alarm bells in Europe suggesting that he might set conditions for defending members of the alliance under attack. Trump told the New York Times last July that the United States was shouldering too much of the cost for the security alliance.
Trump told already British Prime Minister May, when she visited him in the White House a few weeks ago, that the US 'strongly support NATO'. He added this time that NATO was 'very important' to him. This announcement is different than Trump's statement a few months ago, when he said that ‘NATO has problems. The countries aren't paying what they're supposed to pay. NATO is obsolete because it isn't taking care of terror’. It will be interesting to see how Trump will act on the Brussels NATO Summit.
During his visit to Europe, Trump will also be present at the G7 Summit in Sicily, Italy on 26-27 May.
*Hans Izaak Kriek is US correspondent and political commentator for European Business Review and editor-in-chief of Kriek Media
By: N. Peter Kramer
