It's dangerous to broach topic of currencies: Shinzo Abe to Donald Trump

He adds that Trump hasn't attacked Japan on the topic of currencies since their first meeting.

Japan’s Shinzo Abe told US President Donald Trump that it’s dangerous to broach the topic of currencies, the prime minister said on Sunday.

The comment came in a television debate with lawmaker Shigeru Ishiba, his rival in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party leadership election on Thursday, as Abe addressed U.S.-Japan relations.

He added that Trump hasn’t attacked Japan on the topic of currencies since their first meeting. In January 2017, Trump said Japan and China “play the devaluation market,” a charge Japan’s top currency official refuted.

Asked about Japan’s public finances, Abe said Japan needs to fully escape deflation in order to achieve fiscal consolidation. A sales tax hike planned for October 2019 will proceed unless there is another crisis on the level of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, he said.

Abe also addressed a surprise offer from Russian President Vladimir Putin to conclude a peace treaty between the two countries by the end of the year, which Japan rejected earlier this month. He said many experts think Japan should take a more proactive approach, and that a meeting between the leaders later this year would be “important.”
 
Abe and Ishiba are running for the top spot in the LDP. A victory by Abe in the Sept. 20 election would put him on course to become the country’s longest-serving premier.