Japan's Abe departs for U.S. to hold 2-day summit with Trump

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday departed for the United States to hold a two-day summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.

File photo of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. [Photo: AP]

During Abe's sixth face-to-face meeting with Trump to be held at the American leader's Florida resort, Abe said he's hoping to reinforce the Japan-U.S. alliance.

"We will affirm cooperation between Japan and the United States and demonstrate the strong bond of the Japan-U.S. alliance through the summit," Abe was quoted as telling reporters prior to leaving for Haneda airport in Tokyo.

Abe will also be looking to discuss issues pertaining to the Korean Peninsular, according to government sources and will likely lean on Trump regarding the importance of multilateral free trade deals as opposed to bilateral ones.

Japan is cagey about a bilateral deal with the U.S. as it will likely involve heavy concessions being made on sensitive sectors here including autos and farming.