The White House provided a background presser for information about President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump’s upcoming state visit to Japan.  [Transcript below] There are some interesting aspects to the itinerary as outlined; however, first, it’s important to emphasize the context.

As CTH shared earlier: At the highest levels of finance and business; in a process within both private industry and the geopolitical realm of government; a key aspect to every long-term strategic reset is the formation of an alliance.  Every successful titan of industry who has structurally changed history has influenced an alliance toward the effort.

I strongly suspect, in anticipation of the China confrontation; and considering the scale of the consequences therein; President Trump selected Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as the center of an Indo-Pacific alliance (several years ago).  With the knowledge of USTR Lighthizer heading to Japan with an advance trade team…. now consider:

Via Teleconference – 2:31 P.M. EDT – PRESS OFFICER: Good afternoon, everybody. I’m happy you all could join. We have with us today [senior administration official]. He’ll be providing some brief remarks about the President’s upcoming trip to Japan and a few Q&A afterwards. This will be on background and you can attribute what he says to a senior administration official.

The time is going to be extremely limited, so we ask that you limit the questions to the trip itself. And we’ll take as many of those as we can in the time that’s allotted for us.

If there’s any questions or concerns following, or, you know, follow up or anything like this, I think most of you would have our contact at NSC press. Please reach out to me or to that distribution and we’ll take care of that.

With that, I’ll turn to my colleague for a few opening remarks and then we’ll do the Q&A.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Great. Thanks. And thanks for dialing in this afternoon, everybody. So the President and the First Lady will be traveling to Japan this Saturday, May 25th, and returning to the U.S. on Tuesday, May 28th.

As Japan’s first state guests following the enthronement of His Majesty Emperor Naruhito on the first of May, this visit by the President comes really at a historic moment in Japan and it demonstrates that the alliance between the United States and Japan has never been stronger.

The alliance serves as the cornerstone of peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region. The United States’ and Japan’s shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific serves as the foundation for a global partnership that strengthens security, prosperity, and a rules-based order around the world.

After his arrival on Saturday night, the President is going to meet informally with Prime Minister Abe on Sunday, and also join him that day in watching a sumo wrestling match.

On Monday, the President will have a state call on Their Majesties, the Emperor and Empress, followed by bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Abe and his team.

That evening, the Imperial Family will host the President and the First Lady at a state banquet.

The President and the First Lady will bid farewell to Their Majesties in the morning, on Tuesday, and then they will proceed — the President will proceed to the Yokosuka U.S. Naval Base where he will honor our troops for Memorial Day.

So, with that, I’d be happy to entertain some questions.

Q Hi, this is Steve Herman, Voice of America. I’m wondering if we’re going to have any deliverables on trade or on defense issues as a result of this visit.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, Steve, thanks for that. In terms of deliverables, there’ll be some things coming out over the course of the visit. The President and Prime Minister Abe will likely hold a joint press conference where they’ll have some very interesting announcements covering, really, the range of the relationship. Thanks.

Q Hi, this is Katie Rogers with The New York Times. I’m wondering if you can go into the Tuesday visit to the base at all. Is the President expected to tour any vessels or look at any equipment? I’m just kind of wondering what he is going to say in terms of security there and the alliance there, and what he’ll actually be doing at the base.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Sure. Yeah. You know, he’s going to have a chance to see the base, see one of our warships. He’ll have the chance to address troops, to talk about Memorial Day, but also really to talk about the strength of the Japan alliance, to talk about the importance of the alliance in deterring aggression in the region, and also to highlight the regional but also global nature of the partnership between Japan and the U.S.

So we’ll have more details in coming days on the exact schedule there.

Q Thanks again for doing the call. I wanted to follow up on the more cultural aspect. You said that they’ll have an informal activity on Sunday. We’re all assuming that’s golf. But if you could confirm.

And secondly, he’s supposed to attend, as you mentioned, the sumo match, but there are some reports that that’s now in question because of security. So I was wondering if you could also speak to that and confirm that the sumo is on.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, thanks for the question. The full detailed schedule will come out a little bit later when we get closer to the day.

But the sumo event is very much on. I am not aware of the reports that you mentioned. This is what’s called the Spring Basho Sumo Tournament. It’s a major sumo tournament. The President will have the opportunity to see some of the matches together with the Prime Minister. Thanks.

Q Hi, this is Jeff Mason with Reuters. Two follow-ups. One, can you say anything more about what’s expected to come in terms of trade? Will there will be an agreement this weekend, which had been reported at one point?

And secondly, regarding the sumo, can you give us any color about the Trump Cup and what the President plans to bring to that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I missed the last part of your question you said about sumo. Could you repeat that?

Q The first question was about trade. Do you expect to have an agreement? And the second one was about what he’s bringing to the sumo wrestling match.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Right. Okay. You know, on trade, our trade and investment relations with Japan have, really, never been stronger. And the President intends to promote bilateral, free, and fair trade. It’s something he’s been doing consistently in his meetings with the Japanese.

I don’t think that the purpose of this trip is to focus on trade. It’s really to be state guests of Their Majesties. And that’s really the heart of the visit. It’s a celebration of their new roles and this new era that’s been kicked off — the Reiwa era — and a chance to celebrate the alliance.

And I don’t have any details for you on other aspects of the sumo match at the moment.

Q Hey, this is Ashley Parker from The Washington Post. It sounds like this trip, as you’ve described it, and what we’ve heard from others, is sort of more ceremonial than substantive and policy oriented. So considering the President is heading back to Japan for the G20 in just about a month, can you sort of explain the White House and the President’s thinking behind why he accepted this trip and what he hopes to get out of it?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah. I don’t want to give the impression that it won’t be substantive. It’s going to cover quite a broad range of topics in the relationship. There will be some substantive things to announce. So there will be ceremony but there will also be substance in this visit.

And remember, this is the second time that President Trump has met with Prime Minister Abe in the space of a month. He’ll be visiting again, as you mentioned — he’ll be going to Osaka, for the G20, in late June.

So three visits in both directions in a short amount of time is really emblematic of just how close the relationship is. I mean, President Trump and Prime Minister Abe have met or spoken more than 40 times since President Trump was elected. That is absolutely unprecedented in terms of just of the frequency and substance of all of their interactions.

Prime Minister Abe, you’ll remember, he was the first world leader to meet with President Trump. And now President Trump is going to be the first world leader to meet with the new emperor. So they’ll have plenty of substance to discuss and some things to announce as well.

END 2:41 P.M. EDT

All of the geopolitical indicators are present…. and it is important to remember that historic trilateral Buenos Aires summit between President Trump, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and India’s Prime Minister Modi.

Taken in totality with the November 2017 “Golden Ticket” tour of Asia, it looks like President Trump structured two facets of the Indo-Pacific alliance, as far back as 2017, to be a hedge against China.

It appears that President Trump started his administration with a plan for a broad alliance of ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) to replace the U.S. economic engagement with China.  More specifically, it appears to me that President Trump is using Japan as the fulcrum, and repaying Shinzo Abe by working with Modi (India) to open up the India economy.

There’s a similar precedent for this.  Historically, think about how the U.S. helped Canada by using the scale of the U.S. economy to open trade doors, and then leveraging the engaged country to also permit Canadian benefit (entry).

It looks like President Trump is using the ASEAN and Indo-Pacific alliance as the hedge against China.  Japan is key for this to work; and then Trump repays Japan by opening up the U.S. for India exports, and in turn India opens for Japanese imports.

♦Economic security is national security. ♦The KORUS (South Korea-U.S.) trade deal was already reached last year.  ♦Japan essentially controls the TPP group. ♦A new trilateral alliance resets global supply chains (disrupting One Belt/One Road); and yet retains the value of regional manufacturing (Vietnam, Philippines, S-Korea, etc).

If my spidey-sense is correct, Shinzo Abe will be very open to Trump’s unilateral trade requests (perhaps Monday announcement) because Abe sees an enlarging Japanese GDP through new accessibility to India.  It’s a win-win-win.

Trump opens up for India (Indo-Pacific).

India opens up for Japan (Indo-Pacficic).

Japan increases investment in U.S.A. [(U.S-Japan trade agreement); and with new focus on national security, an expanded Japanese GDP permits security purchases from U.S.A.]

Meanwhile, China is sad panda.

President Trump and U.S. Attorney General William Barr participate in the 2019 Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor ceremony at the White House. [Video and Transcript]

[Transcript] East Room – 3:25pm EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Mr. Attorney General. That’s great. Appreciate it.

I welcome everyone to the White House — a very special place — as we award our very bravest law enforcement officers and firefighters our nation’s highest public safety award: the Medal of Valor. Congratulations. It’s a great award. (Applause.)

Also joining us for the ceremony is Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. Jeff. And congratulations. (Applause.) Along with a friend of mine — a great senator — Rob Portman. Rob, thank you. (Applause.) And Representative — and one of the best hockey players you’ll ever see — Pete Stauber. Pete, thank you very much. (Applause.)

To the heroes we honor today: This afternoon, we express the gratitude and pride of our nation for your immortal acts of courage.

To the families who join us: You carry a great burden so that our citizens can live in safety and in peace. We cherish and thank each and every one of you.

Here with us today is Trooper Nicholas Cederberg from Oregon State Police. Where is Nicholas? Good. That’s what I thought. On Christmas night of 2016, Nic was with his family when he got a call that a man in the nearby neighborhood of King City had shot and killed a woman and was now speeding through the city streets very dangerously. Nic raced to find him, and soon located the murderer and chased him into a dead-end road. The suspect made a U-turn, rammed right into Nic’s car, and then immediately opened fire.

Nic thought he had it, but he didn’t, because Nic was shot in the hip — very badly injured. He laid on the ground. Amid a barrage of gunfire, he kept firing back, preventing the shooter from escaping until other officers arrived.

That Christmas night, Nic took 12 bullets. After a very tough recovery, Nic survived. And, Trooper Cederberg, we are very honored to have you with us in the White House. Thank you very much. Great job. (Applause.) He looks awfully good. Twelve bullets. He looks good if he took no bullets, you know? (Laughter.) Some pretty good doctors, I guess. Right?

TROOPER CEDERBERG: I had good doctors.

THE PRESIDENT: Great job.

Also with us today is Officer Alan Horujko of the Ohio State University Police. On November 28, 2016, an ISIS-inspired terrorist sped into a crowd of students at Ohio State. I remember that. He then got out of his car and chased them with a knife.

Alan ran to the scene and yelled at the man to drop his knife. The man charged toward Alan after doing a lot of damage to others, but Alan shot him and killed him immediately. Thanks to Alan’s swift action, not a single innocent person that day died. Some very badly injured people, however. Officer Horujko, we are forever grateful. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you. Great.

This afternoon, we also honor two incredible firefighters: Captain Dustin Moore and Firefighter Andrew Freisner of the Lenexa Fire Department in Kansas. In April of 2016, Dustin and Andrew responded to an apartment fire, where they learned that a family was trapped on the second floor. It was looking very bad.

Dustin and Andrew climbed up a ladder to the balcony of the apartment and raced into a blinding hail of smoke and deadly heat. They found a woman who was unconscious and two small children, and carried them all to safety. Captain Moore and Firefighter Freisner, you made a tremendous difference and you make all Americans proud. It was a great job. Thank you very much. Great job. (Applause.) You saved those lives.

Today, we also recognize eight law enforcement officers from Azusa, California: Tommy Avila, Manuel Campos, Seth Chapman, Carlos Plascencia — I didn’t get that great, Carlos, but not bad. (Laughter.) Where is Carlos? I owe you one. (Laughter.) Andrew Rodriguez, Terry Smith, Xavier Torres, and Rocky Wenrick. Thank you, fellas, that’s fantastic. (Applause.) Fantastic.

These officers responded to a call of a crazed man firing at citizens near a voting site on November 8th, 2016. When they arrived, Carlos and Xavier raced through a hail of bullets to save a woman who had been shot in the head. At the same time, Terry, Andrew, and Seth returned fire. Tommy, Rocky, and Manuel drew the gunman out of his house, enabling their fellow officers to shoot him and bring the rampage to an end. A very dangerous situation.

To each of you: You represent the unity, devotion, teamwork, and swift action that makes America’s law enforcement the best and bravest anywhere in the world. Well done. And I want to thank you all for being here. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)

And earlier today, in a private ceremony, I was profoundly honored to present the Medal of Valor to the families of two fallen officers who made the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty: Sergeant Verdell Smith and Officer Brent Thompson.

Sergeant Smith was a member of the Memphis Police Department. In June 2016, a gunman was speeding toward a busy intersection downtown. As Sergeant Smith cleared the street, the attacker struck and fatally injured Sergeant Smith.

I want to just thank Sergeant Smith’s family. Where are you? We just left — where are you, Sergeant Smith’s family? Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

On July 7, 2016, Dallas Police Officer Brent Thompson was on duty during a large protest against law enforcement that soon turned violent when a gunman opened fire on the police. Brent charged across the three-lane road and fired on the shooter. Brent was killed instantly in the firefight, but his act of courage saved many lives. Many, many lives.

An attack on our police is an attack upon our entire nation. Through their sacrifice, Sergeant Smith and Officer Thompson defeated evil men with the goodness and bravery of true American heroes. We are eternally grateful in their debt. Thank you very much. It’s really great.

Every officer, firefighter, and first responder who receives this award embodies the highest ideals of service and sacrifice, character and courage, love and loyalty. Your lives of patriotism, your devotion to duty, and your deeds of valor lift up our entire nation.

Today and every day, we thank God that you were there when our communities needed you the most. And we want to thank you all. And God bless you, God bless law enforcement, and God bless the United States of America. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you.

So now I’d like to ask the military aide to come forward and read the citations as I present these incredible and very brave recipients with the Medal of Valor. Thank you.

MILITARY AIDE: Senior Trooper Nicholas Cederberg.

The Medal of Valor is presented to Senior Trooper Nicholas Cederberg of the Oregon State Police for taking brave and decisive action to bring a murderer to justice on Christmas night, 2016. After an extended vehicle chase, Senior Trooper Cederberg prevented the escape of the killer, placing himself directly in the line of fire and sustaining several life-threatening gunshot wounds.

(The Medal of Valor is presented.) (Applause.)

University Law Enforcement Officer Alan Horujko of the Ohio State University Police Division.

The Medal of Valor is presented to University Law Enforcement Officer Alan Horujko of the Ohio State University Police Division for singlehandedly saving the lives of more than a dozen civilians on the Ohio State University Campus by quickly and skillfully neutralizing a violent knife attacker who had plowed his vehicle into a crowd.

(The Medal of Valor is presented.) (Applause.)

Fire Captain Dustin Moore and Firefighter Paramedic Andrew Freisner.

The Medal of Valor is presented to Fire Captain Dustin Moore and Firefighter Paramedic Andrew Freisner of the Lenexa, Kansas, Fire Department for braving a furious fire and billowing smoke, at great personal risk, to rescue the occupants of a burning apartment building who were within minutes of perishing from the flames.

(The Medal of Valor is presented.) (Applause.)

Retired Lieutenant Xavier Torres, Sergeant Seth Chapman, Retired Sergeant Terry Smith Jr., Sergeant Thomas Avila III, Sergeant Rocky Wenrick, Retired Corporal Andrew Rodriguez Sr., Senior Officer Carlos Plascencia, and Detective Manuel Campos.

The Medal of Valor is presented to these men for acting with composure and bravery in the face of life-threatening danger during a mass shooting on Election Day, 2016. These courageous officers arrived at the deadly and chaotic scene in Azusa, California, and immediately took command, risking their lives to protect innocent civilians and successfully neutralizing the killer.

(The Medal of Valor is presented.) (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: These are tremendous people. I want to just congratulate everybody. It’s an amazing honor to have you in the White House. Say hello to your families, and thank you all for being here. Thank you very much. Congratulations.

Thank you everybody. Thank you. (Applause.)

END 3:41 P.M. EDT