Japan's Abe has 'confidence' in Trump after meeting

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he had "great confidence" in Donald Trump after being the first foreign leader to meet the US President-elect.

Abe met the property developer at Trump Tower in New York for a 90 minutes. He later described the bi-lateral as "candid".
Trump was a vocal opponent of free trade deals with countries like Japan, and had pledged to dump the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal which Abe's government has signed.

He also said Japan needed to pay more to maintain US troops on its soil, and suggested that Japan and South Korea should develop their own nuclear weapons to counter the threat from North Korean missiles.

"We were able to have a very candid talk over a substantial amount of time. We held it in a very warm atmosphere,” Abe said after the meeting.

"I do believe that without confidence between the two nations the alliance would never function in the future and as the outcome of today's discussion I am convinced Mr Trump is a leader in whom I can have great confidence."

“I conveyed my basic views on various issues to Trump, but with regard to more of the specifics or details, because [he] has not assumed the office as the president of the United States and today’s discussion was an unofficial discussion, I’d like to refrain from touching on details,” Abe said.