Trump and Abe confirm 'the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance'

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
(Image credit: Toru Yamanaka/Getty Images)

President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke by phone Saturday morning, a conversation Abe characterized as a mutual confirmation of "the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance for areas such as the economy and national security." Abe said after the call that he and Trump plan to meet in person for bilateral discussions on Feb. 10 "to have a candid exchange of views on the economy and security issues as a whole."

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order pulling the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a trade deal Abe supported as central to Japanese economic growth. Trump will also speak Saturday with the leaders of Germany, Russia, and France.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.