Trump's views don't always align with what's said in Japan
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump had a head start building rapport at a previous meeting, and hope to build on it in Washington on Friday.
— "We are already producing extremely large numbers of cars in the U.S. We are one of the American manufacturers, aren't we? I hope President Trump understands that."
Nearly 60 percent of the vehicles sold by Japanese automakers in the U.S. are made in America, but trade data show Japan exports 87 times more vehicles to the U.S. than it imports from there.
Japan says U.S. automakers don't do enough to make their cars attractive in Japan, for example by equipping them with right-hand drive for Japan's roads.
The yen fell sharply as Japan's central bank injected hundreds of trillions of yen into the sluggish economy through asset purchases meant to spur inflation.
The new U.S. secretaries of state and defense have reassured Japan after Trump's comments raised worries about his commitment to the U.S.-Japan alliance.