Trump and Abe hail US-Japan ties at banquet in Tokyo

(6 Nov 2017) US President Donald Trump said on Monday that Japan's leader enthusiastically sought a relationship with him soon after he was voted into office.
At a Monday evening banquet that was the final event of Trump's visit to Japan, Trump told the story of how, after he won the election last November, he was bombarded by phone calls from world leaders offering congratulations.
Trump said he'd returned just a few - including one from Abe - who said he wanted to meet with Trump as soon as possible.
Trump responded: anytime.
Trump, as he told it, wasn't aware of the protocol against president-elects meeting with world leaders.
By the time Trump called Abe to wave him off, however, Trump said Abe was already on the plane to New York.
"You have a very aggressive, very, very aggressive, strong, tough Prime Minister. That is a good thing by the way, not a bad thing," he told guests at the dinner.
Abe also called Trump his "dear friend" and hailed the benefits of what he called "golf diplomacy."
The two men on Monday put a face on the threat posed by the North, earlier standing with anguished families of Japanese citizens snatched by Pyongyang's agents.

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