Confusion over Trump's first talks with foreign leader as Abe heads to New York

LOL Poor Abe. Rushed and desperate.

The failing @nytimes story is so totally wrong on transition. It is going so smoothly. Also, I have spoken to many foreign leaders.

How many foreign leaders? Let me guess: so many?

C'mon, it's only the Prime Minister of a major American ally - you can't expect Trump to have, like, arranged for someone to arrange for a venue in this amount of time, what with all of his lawsuits and all. Perhaps they can hold their conference on Twitter.

@Laguna

The very next sentence says: "Trump and Pence had spoken to 29 foreign leaders, the transition team said on Wednesday."

Why the hurry?

I'm pretty sure Trump has no intention of meeting Abe. Trump is going to embarrass Abe by sending him back to Japan without a meeting. Trump hates Japan. That's all there is to it.

MH

The very next sentence says: "Trump and Pence had spoken to 29 foreign leaders, the transition team said on Wednesday."

which means Trump himself has spoken to very few. If not his team wouldn't have needed to lump him in with Trump. Can you not see that. It took a phone call from fellow millionaire Golfer Greg Norman to get the Aussie PM on the phone with Trump. NZ had an Earthquake which was the first contact between Trump and Key, Trump tweeted about it. Fact is and as much as Team Trump try and deny it, they are out of their depth here, none of them having any experience at actually running a white house.

“There has been a lot of confusion,” said one Japanese official.

That's because he thought he was meeting Clinton and so did his aides

The first political foreign figure to meet Trump was Nigel Farage

Abe was Trumped.....

At least Abe's got one thing in common with Trump, says one thing then says something else and then does something else.

Trump also met Britain’s anti-EU Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage at Trump Tower last weekend, ahead of any meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Farage is a trouble-stirring snake. Whipped up the Brexit campaign and then disappeared when Brexit leadership had no clear plan on what to do next. Farage even lost his parliamentary seat and could not handle his own party (UKIP) and save it from falling apart. The people who voted for Trump should be asking why he is prioritising meeting non-American non-political businessmen.

@Maria

According to the news commentators this morning, he wants to appeal for a strong Japan/US relationship before the Trump administration's foreign policy solidifies.

More of that misleading press. Talk to some guys until someone mentions confusion. Bingo - there's your headline! "Confusion over Trump..." Keep it coming, and the vast majority of people who only skim headlines will start to associate Trump's administration with confusion, without really knowing why.

The media will be pulling this stuff from now until the guy they want is in office. Then, no matter how much confusion there is, the headline will be "Our President-Elect Taking the Initiative in Meeting Foreign Leaders."

Trump doesn't hate Japan. Just Abe is too desperate. Japan is precisely Trump's kind of country, once he erects trade and tariff barriers.

No doubt Abe wants to make amends. Abe flew to meet Hillary a couple of months ago to get a head start on starting a relationship with her, and snubbed meeting Trump. Trump is the kind of guy who doesn't forget things like that (which Abe well knows), and Abe comes from a culture where such actions are "regrettable." So Abe wants to be first on the list of foreign leaders to meet Trump, and hopefully bury the hatchet.

Whichever advisor told Abe to meet Hillary and not Trump is probably now washing cars at the Tokyo motor pool.

The first political foreign figure to meet Trump was Nigel Farage

Incorrect. Farage is as much a 'political foreign figure' as I am. He is politically incumbent and does not lead any party. The hilarious thing is that despite Farage's attacks on the European Parliament, the one political seat he still holds is as a Member of the European Parliament. Along with the European Parliament salary of $7,000 a month. Trump is prioritising meeting non-American businessmen friends with no access to trade deals.

A predictable shambles.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-meeting-foreign-leader_us_582cecace4b030997bbd71fb

Abe should have waited until after the inauguration and met with Trump just like he planned on doing with Clinton. His rush to meet Trump at this early stage just shows how desperate he is and the degree of panic that the J-Govt. is in and he is showing Trump that Japan is completely dependent on the United States and now Trump knows that they will be willing to do anything and pay anything to keep him happy.

No problem. There's a Starbucks on 52nd and 7th Avenue. Trump to Abe: "Frappucino on me. You know, one of our greatest Presidents was named Abe. Ever hear of Lincoln? By the way, I love sushi."

Good on Abe in getting in there at a time of weakness for Trump to extract some public statements commending the alliance and keeping to the status quo. If Trump backtracks on his moronic campaign statements, that would be an astounding diplomatic victory. If he backtracks on those statements, it might be time for Japan to nuke up and leave the alliance

This whole article reads like some kind of poor written drama :)

Prime Minister Abe, President-elect Donald J Trump share a common purpose, although politically abstract, there is middle ground. Abe san wishes to review fundamental aspects to war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution. Whilst President-elect Trump want a bye one get one free approach to base-hosting costs. The Pentagon, CIA/NSA agenda is to maintain the status quo. See the compromise.....

Put money on Abe San personally inviting President-elect Donald J Trump to Tokyo, rest assured, the experience will change Donald Trumps mind.

Uncertainty over the talks shows the difficulties in turning Trump from a freewheeling businessman into a sitting president with a watertight schedule and a fully functioning administration by his inauguration on Jan 20.

Stopped reading right there.

Just your useless opinion Reuters.

Call this meeting impromptu. An informal get together. Trump Tower is not a location one would drive past and inadvertently miss. Of course Abe will need bling protection stepping into the lift. Bespoke RayBans will do the job. There will also be a need for stealth shielding from the gold lamé when venturing into the main suite.

Put this down to diplomacy, a learning curve, Abe san has everything to gain.

Abe, learn some English and do not point at your nose.

Trump, learn some Japanese and take off the wig.

Piers Curran, Head of Trading at Amplify Trading, discusses Abe's meeting with Trump today in his morning briefing.....

Take note of the thought process behind Currens 10 year JGB link to Japanese money policy.

https://youtu.be/xVvsKOg9jw0

Why is he doing this w/o having been briefed by the State Department? Is he even aware that in a democracy there is a difference between the government's position and his personal position?

A predictable shambles.

Yes, Huffpo is a shambles, you might as well be reading Drudge if all you want is spin.

sangetsu03Nov. 17, 2016 - 03:51PM JST No doubt Abe wants to make amends. Abe flew to meet Hillary a couple of months ago to get a head start on starting a >relationship with her, and snubbed meeting Trump.

Wrong, Abe never "flew to meet" Clinton, he was already in NYC for a UN function, and candidate Clinton was in NYC at the same time. She met with a number of Heads of State at that time.

it might be time for Japan to nuke up and leave the alliance

Not in this century.

She met with a number of Heads of State at that time.

Someone was being a little too presumptuous.

Haiku for Abe - Trump Votes win election not in the united states hello donald trump.

Transition team officials said on Wednesday night that Trump planned to announce “landing teams” on Thursday that would begin setting up staff in key agencies, like the State and Justice departments.

Ohh, now he thinks he's a starship captain: Captain Trump of the USS Misadventure beaming his landing teams all over the place. How many are red shirts?

Mr Trump prides himself for his negotiation skills however I believe that Mr Abe is equally if not more skilled at the art of negotiation. I believe a good result will come from this meeting. Abe Shushyo Gambatte Kudasai.

Huffpo is a shambles

Why is that? I've never read anything about them being unethical, or anything like that. Do you just dislike it because it is left-leaning, or have they been doing some unethical conduct?

It seems that Trump would take advantage of Abe's big hurry. Abe should have waited for a while until Trump's all members get organized. Trump doesn't know much about long time Japan - US security treaty if Abe met him now. He would just say to Abe, "Pay much more to US military". That's all Abe got.

it is unusual for foreign leaders to hold high-level diplomatic talks in the United States without detailed planning

for some reason I'm reminded of Abenomics...

If only Trump operated some business that could provide first class meeting areas and accommodations. And if he had some people to make arrangements for some meetings, things could really work out. Hmm. Maybe he knows somebody who runs a chain of hotels and various service businesses. Hmm.

This won't be the last time I will have to point out that ONE candidate for POTUS was extremely experienced with things like this. Issues related to organization, international protocol, etc. are things that some people can handle easily with a phone call. Instead, we have a guy who will have to learn from step one how to just muddle through. I have seen the laundry list of fun activities on tap for the first 100 days, and the only way THAT is going to happen is if Mr. Trump gets a lot of help from the people he promised not to get help from.

Or he can repeat the experience of many a tea party candidate. Get elected. Proceed to do nothing for a full term and then blame others. Get voted out. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Does it need to be said? Experience counts for something. Electing people just BECAUSE they don't know how things work is not a recipe for successful government.

He just drops by NY for fueling on the way to APEC.

" those who begin working on the teams would have to sign an agreement not to lobby for five years after they leave the administration" most encouraging thing I have read all week ...

" those who begin working on the teams would have to sign an agreement not to lobby for five years after they leave the administration"

not if you want to attract top people unless you are paying extremely high amounts. If you are paying normal scale you will be getting 2nd tier talent. Sounds good on the stump but is very limiting if enforced.

Where's the Trump tweet chowing down on a bowl of gyudon? "I love Japanese people!"