Abe looks to create US jobs after Trump hits out on trade

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to discuss creating jobs and building infrastructure in the US during a meeting with President Donald Trump next week, in a bid to defuse his concerns over trade.The talks on February 10 in Washington should focus on the full range of economic ties rather than just two-way trade, Abe told a parliamentary committee yesterday. Upon taking office, Trump pulled out of an Asia-Pacific trade deal backed by Abe and called the trade imbalance with Japan on vehicles “unfair.” On Tuesday he accused Japan of devaluing its currency.“The question is whether it’s enough to look only at the difference between exports and imports – I don’t think so at all,” Abe told the committee. “Through our close economic ties we have both profited greatly,” he said, adding, “it’s important for us to share that perception.” He and senior aides also denied Trump’s charge of currency manipulation.This isn’t the first time that Trump has raised the issue of Japan’s currency and relations with the US. On the campaign trail in 2015, he accused Japan of currency manipulation. At a press conference last month, he said the US has a “trade imbalance” with Japan.While Abe, his main lieutenant in the cabinet and Japan’s top foreign exchange official yesterday pushed back against Trump’s assertions, Abe is also anxious to preserve ties with Japan’s only treaty ally. The US provides a “nuclear umbrella” to deter an expansionist China and unstable North Korea, and is Japan’s second-largest trading partner behind China.Abe’s suggestions in parliament for improving ties included – creating employment in the US, including by Japanese companies, helping improve US industrial productivity and competitiveness and cooperating on Trump’s infrastructure plans.The Mainichi newspaper reported earlier that the Japanese government was preparing a package on economic cooperation to present to the Trump administration, including increasing purchases of US shale gas and investing in high-speed rail projects in California and Texas.For Abe it’s a fine line. Earlier this week he pushed back on Trump’s remarks that Japan had made it “impossible” for US manufacturers to sell cars in the country, telling lawmakers that a lack of advertising and dealerships played a role. Yesterday, he focused on the benefits Japanese automotive companies have brought to the US economy, saying they’ve directly and indirectly created 1.5mn jobs.Abe, who said he had told Trump by phone that the Toyota Camry model was 75% locally made in the US, was set to meet Toyota president Akio Toyoda tomorrow, prior to his Washington trip, Kyodo News reported this week.