Japan PM says Trump is "leader in whom I can have great confidence"

PanARMENIAN.Net - Japan's Prime Minister voiced confidence about Donald Trump as he became the first foreign leader to meet the EU president-elect, who was narrowing in on cabinet choices, AFP says.

Trump, who has been receiving a flurry of Republican operatives at his Manhattan skyscraper since his shock victory last week, appeared to be selecting staunch backers but also considering former rivals for top jobs.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met for 90 minutes with the president-elect at Trump Tower to sound him out after a campaign that alarmed many US allies.

"As an outcome of today's discussions, I am convinced Mr Trump is a leader in whom I can have great confidence," Abe told reporters, describing a "very warm atmosphere."

But Abe, a nationalist who has struggled both to perk up Japan's economy and face the rise of China, declined to go into specifics.

Japan is one of Washington's closest allies but Trump alarmed Tokyo policymakers during the campaign by musing about pulling the thousands of US troops from the region and suggesting that officially pacifist Japan may need nuclear weapons.

Trump also vowed on the campaign trail to tear up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed vast trade pact backed by outgoing Democratic President Barack Obama and which Abe had made a top priority.