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Feb. 10 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the White House on Friday, where the two leaders pledged to develop a mutually beneficial diplomatic relationship. Abe has visited the United States several times in recent months, but Friday's was his first trip to the White House since Trump's inauguration.
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"I welcome you to the very famous White House," Trump said in his opening remarks. "You honor us with your presence. This is one of our earliest visits with a foreign leader. And I'm truly glad that it could be from such an important and steadfast ally."
Abe visited Pearl Harbor with former President Barack Obama in December to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack, and met with President-elect Trump in New York City a few weeks earlier.
"This is the fourth time in six months for me to visit the United States," the Japanese leader said. "I am sincerely grateful for the always heartwarming welcome."
Trump noted that mutual defense will be an important element of the U.S.-Japan relationship under his administration.
"It is very important that Japan and the United States continue to invest very heavily in the alliance to build up our defense and our defensive capabilities -- which, under our mutual leadership, will become stronger and stronger and as time goes by they will ultimately be impenetrable," he said, noting that the countries must guard against "the North Korean missile and nuclear threat -- both of which I consider a very, very high priority."
The president mentioned that he has a particularly good chemistry with Abe.
"When I greeted him today at the car ... I grabbed him and hugged him because that's the way we feel. We have a very, very good bond," Trump said. "I'll let you know if it changes, but I don't think it will."
Like Trump, Abe praised the leaders' positive relationship and called the United States "the champion of democracy."
"Donald, president, you are an excellent businessman but you have never been in Congress or been governor, you have not experienced being in the public office but you have fought the uphill struggle and fight for more than a year in the election campaign to become a new president," he said. "This is the dynamism of democracy."
The Japanese PM was asked about the former Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that Trump scrapped immediately after taking office.
"We are fully aware of President Trump's decision ... I am quite optimistic that good results will be seen from [economic] dialogue," Abe said.
"It has to be fair, and we will make it fair," Trump said of U.S.-Pacific trade. "I think the United States is going to be an even bigger player than it is right now, by a lot."
Trump and Abe, who will spend the weekend in Florida, were asked by members of the press about the ruling Thursday by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a restraining order against the president's executive order to temporarily ban U.S. travel for immigrants and refugees.
"We are going to keep our country safe. We are going to do whatever is necessary. Ultimately, I have no doubt that we will win that particular [court] case," Trump said of the ruling -- and also indicated that more plans to strengthen national security are coming soon.
"We will do something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our country. You will be seeing that sometime next week," he said.
Abe declined to address the contentious executive order, but did note that managing immigration is a challenging security responsibility for all nations.
"We will not allow people into our country who are looking to do harm to our people," Trump added. "We will allow lots of people into our country that will love our people and do good for our country. It's always going to be that way, at least during my administration, I can tell you that."
Before the joint conference ended, Trump also mentioned that his government is working on a better healthcare system to replace the Affordable Care Act. GOP lawmakers have already started to repeal Obama's signature healthcare law, but have not yet outlined what a replacement will look like.
"Our country is paying so much and Obamacare, as you know, is a total and complete disaster," he said, also noting Friday's confirmation of Tom Price as his health secretary. "We are going to end up with tremendous healthcare at a lower price and I think people are going to be extremely happy."
