Japanese PM Shinzo Abe Prepares ‘Tweetable’ Investment Figures For Trump Meeting

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe Prepares ‘Tweetable’ Investment Figures For Trump Meeting

Japanese officials believe they have cobbled together a game plan for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, but doubts still remain over how to deal with the unpredictable new leader.

Abe will enter the summit in Washington on Feb. 10 armed with an economic cooperation package worth $150 billion (about 17 trillion yen) to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States, and a delegation that includes top members of his Cabinet.

The strategy is to not only quell Trump’s claims of unfair Japanese trade practices and currency manipulation but also to protect Abe’s “Abenomics” economic measures and create channels for more traditional negotiations. However, it remains to be seen if the economic package will be enough to soothe over the U.S. president.

Tokyo has been consistently trumpeting the package as a boon for both sides. “By further heightening the economic relationship between Japan and the United States through greater cooperation, constructive discussions are expected to build a win-win relationship for the two nations,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at his Feb. 7 news conference.

Suga also announced that Abe would be accompanied on his visit to Washington by Finance Minister Taro Aso, who also serves as deputy prime minister, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Hiroshige Seko, the economy minister.

Although it is unusual for such core Cabinet ministers to join the prime minister for a summit, the Abe administration hopes the lineup will convince the United States that Tokyo is placing high priority on the meeting.

The economic cooperation package was compiled under the initiative of the prime minister’s office, with some contributions from high-ranking bureaucrats in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The measures include investment in high-speed railway systems in the United States as well as joint research in robot development.

At the Feb. 3 Lower House Budget Committee session, Abe said, “I want to talk with President Trump about the contributions that we can make for jobs (in the United States).”Abe was forced to change his approach to Trump after the president announced the United States’ withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade arrangement, which was considered a key part of Japan’s growth strategy.

The Abe administration initially considered trying to convince Trump about the importance of the TPP, but a high-ranking official in the prime minister’s office said, “There is the possibility of being totally ignored if we mentioned even the ‘T’ of the TPP.” Trump has made it clear he will focus on bilateral trade deals, especially with nations like Japan that have trade surpluses with the United States.

Abe administration officials are prepared for criticism about the trade situation, particularly the auto industry. 

They will also strive to deflect criticism about the weaker yen because it goes back to monetary easing measures, one of the “arrows” of Abenomics.Japanese government officials have disputed Trump’s claims about the auto industry and the yen. At his Feb. 7 news conference, Aso said, “The monetary easing measures do not have the objective of weakening the yen.”

But Japanese government officials do not want the Abe-Trump meeting to focus on those specific topics. Instead, they hope the economic cooperation package will create what Abe has described as a “broad framework” in which to discuss the overall economic relationship.

The inclusion of the three Cabinet ministers in the delegation is also an attempt to seek out other U.S. officials who could become dependable negotiating partners. One individual being eyed is U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, who not only has more political experience than Trump but is also viewed favorably within the U.S. Republican Party.

Japanese officials have sought to establish a Cabinet-level forum led by Aso and Pence to further discuss economic issues. The idea is to have that forum instruct lower-level officials to conduct more detailed discussions to reach some form of compromise.

However, a Japanese government source noted, “The United States has not responded in any way to the proposal.”