*Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2019 *

**Remarks Prior to a Meeting With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan in Osaka, Japan **

*June 28, 2019 *

*Prime Minister Abe.* You were the first state guest to Japan. I would like to thank you for your visit. It was a great honor for us. And so many Japanese citizens had a huge welcome to President Trump.

The G–20 Osaka summit will commence from today. Through the contribution to international challenge and issues solutions, like the sustainable growth of the world economy, I'd like to communicate a strong message: Without the cooperation of the U.S. and Japan, such work wouldn't be possible.

Once again, I will say, the first state guest in the era of Reiwa, by you, was a historic event. I thank you for your visit. Through G–20, we'd like to cooperate so that we can produce good results. Thank you.

*President Trump.* Well, thank you very much, Shinzo. It's an honor. And we just left Japan, and now I'm back. [*Laughter*] That was a quick trip, and it was a great honor to be your first guest. And meeting the Emperor and the Emperor's family was, really, a very special thing on behalf of the United States.

And I can say we very much appreciate the courtesies—giving out the world championship to the great sumo wrestler. [*Laughter*] He was—you would not want to fight with him. He was great. But that was a very special evening and something that everybody is talking about. All over the world, they showed that. Everybody is talking about it.

But I just want to thank you. And I know we're going to have a successful day. We're going to be talking about many things, and we're going to also be talking about a lot of trade. I appreciate the fact that you're sending many automobile companies into Michigan and Ohio and Pennsylvania and North Carolina—a lot of our States. I see they're building all over the United States, a lot of the great Japanese car companies and other Japanese companies also.

But in particular, the car companies have been terrific. They're coming in, and they're building magnificent plants. We haven't had that, and we very much appreciate it.

So we'll be discussing trade. We'll be discussing military. And we'll be discussing the purchase of a lot of military equipment by Japan, and we appreciate that.

Thank you very much.

NOTE: The President spoke at approximately 8:40 a.m. at the International Exhibition Center. In his remarks, he referred to Emperor Naruhito of Japan; and professional sumo wrestler Hideki Asanoyama. Prime Minister Abe spoke in Japanese, and his remarks were translated by an interpreter. Audio was not available for verification of the content of Prime Minister Abe's remarks.

*Categories:* Meetings With Foreign Leaders and International Officials : Japan, Prime Minister Abe*.*

*Locations:* Osaka, Japan.* *

*Names:* Abe, Shinzo; Asanoyama, Hideki; Naruhito, Emperor*.* *Subjects:* Business and industry : Automobile industry :: Strengthening efforts; Japan : Defense relationship with U.S.; Japan : Emperor; Japan : President Trump's visits; Japan : Prime Minister; Japan : Relations with U.S.; Japan : Trade with U.S.

*DCPD Number:* DCPD201900430.