Ishiba will also look to remind Trump — who has proposed tariffs on both friends and foes in an effort to boost American manufacturing — about the long-running U.S.-Japan alliance. Japanese companies employ nearly 1 million Americans and have held the top spot for cumulative foreign direct investment into the U.S. over the last five years.

U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House on Friday and said the two countries would work to cut Washington's trade deficit with Tokyo amid escalating trade tensions threatening to rupture the global economy.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington Friday. The meeting between Trump and one of the United States' strongest allies in the Indo-Pacific region is expected to focus around economic and security issues along the theme of "a free and open Ind-Pacific" against tightening military control by China.