Japan’s prime minister meets Donald Trump—again

AMONG the books said to be by the bedside of Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, is “The Art of the Deal”, Donald Trump’s autobiographical ode to sharp-elbowed capitalism. Mr Abe appeared to borrow from the book’s brash credo last November: while the rest of the world was still gasping at Mr Trump’s election, Mr Abe jumped on a plane and went to meet the president-elect. It was Mr Trump’s first meeting with a foreign leader after his election. As a gift, Mr Abe brought a gold-plated golf club.

On February 9th Mr Abe will fly to America again, for a proper summit with the new president. This time he is bringing an even more lavish gift: a plan to create 700,000 jobs. The aim, the prime minister told parliament, is to help upgrade America’s infrastructure. His plan involves Japanese investment to build high-speed rail links in Texas and California, to decommission America’s fleet of ageing nuclear power plants and to collaborate in the development of robots and high-tech weaponry. Some of the money could come from Japan’s ¥135-trillion ($1.2 trillion) public-pension fund, the world’s largest.

...