Japan's Prime Minister Abe Thanked Trump for Saving Money On the F-35

Thomas Phippen

Security, Asia

Trump criticized the F-35 program in December, proclaiming on Twitter that the U.S. would open competition between the F-35, made by Lockheed Martin, and the F-18 Super Hornet, made by Boeing.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe personally thanked President Donald Trump for his role in bringing down the cost of the F-35 fighter jet, Trump told the Associated Press in an interview Friday.

Trump pointed to the F-35 cost reduction as one of the successes of his first 100 days in office, touting the money he saved taxpayers and how much other countries will benefit from the decreased cost of production.

“The first thing [Shinzo Abe] said to me, because it was right at the time I did it, he said, ‘Could I thank you?'” Trump told the AP.

(This first appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation site here.)  

“You saved us $100 million,” Abe said, according to Trump. Japan potentially saved around $100 million on the 10 or 12 F-35 jets.

The U.S. saved quite a bit more in its most recent contract for the jets. “I saved $725 million on the 90 planes. Just 90,” Trump said. (RELATED: New F-35 Contract Shows Exactly How Much Trump Saved Taxpayers)

“General [Jim] Mattis, who had to sign the deal when it came to his office, said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,'” Trump said.

Trump criticized the F-35 program in December, proclaiming on Twitter that the U.S. would open competition between the F-35, made by Lockheed Martin, and the F-18 Super Hornet, made by Boeing.

Lockheed apparently listened. Marillyn Hewson, CEO of Lockheed, said Trump’s involvement helped speed plans for reducing the cost of the jets.

“[Trump] helped accelerate that along, and I think he put a sharper focus on price and how we drive the price down,” Hewson told reporters in March. “He absolutely did contribute to us getting to closure on that.”