Washington Times – Nov 17, 2016 – TOKYO | A nervous Japanese government is trying to figure out how American security policies will change under a Donald Trump administration.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to meet with Mr. Trump Nov. 17 in New York in a bid to undo some recent political fallout. In September Mr. Abe met with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, but pointedly did not meet with Mr. Trump.
After the surprise result, the Japanese Foreign Ministry has been scrambling to make amends with Mr. Trump, who will soon be in charge of Tokyo’s most important ally and security patron.
During the campaign, the New York real estate mogul ran on a foreign policy of “America First,” based on economic nationalism. He was critical of Japan and other allies for not doing enough to pay for U.S. security.
“We need to ensure that foreign markets in Japan and France and Germany and Saudi Arabia are as open to our products as our country is to theirs,” he said in one campaign speech.