Japan’s prime minister retweets, then deletes Trump’s attack on Flake
Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe on Thursday mistakenly retweeted President Trump’s criticism of Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).
Ahead of his visit to the White House, Abe said he was looking forward to the meeting by retweeting an earlier Trump tweet blasting Flake.
{mosads}“I too look forward to having fruitful talks with my great friend President @realDonaldTrump as always,” Abe wrote.
The tweet was deleted after about 20 minutes.
Abe likely intended to respond to a different Trump tweet from earlier Thursday, in which the president said he looked forward to seeing the prime minister.
“Looking forward to seeing my friend Prime Minister @AbeShinzo of Japan at noon. Will be discussing North Korea and Trade,” Trump tweeted.
Looking forward to seeing my friend Prime Minister @AbeShinzo of Japan at noon. Will be discussing North Korea and Trade.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 7, 2018
Later on Thursday, Flake responded to the incident with a tweet of his own.
“Et tu, Abe?” the Arizona senator wrote.
Et tu, Abe? https://t.co/HDsjWXeq2D
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) June 7, 2018
Abe and Trump have developed a warm relationship over the past year and a half. The Japanese leader visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in April, where the two golfed, ate cheeseburgers and discussed trade and North Korea.
Trump’s meeting with Abe is the first in a series of summits with foreign leaders.
Trump will depart Friday for the Group of Seven summit in Canada, where he is expected to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron, among others.
The G-7 summit comes a short time after Trump imposed steep steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the European Union, prompting growing concerns of a global trade war.
Following the summit, Trump will travel to Singapore to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The historic summit will take place on June 12, as the U.S. presses North Korea to fully abandon its nuclear program.
Updated at 1:53 p.m.
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