US President Donald Trump welcomed the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington on Friday. They held a short meeting in the White House followed by a press conference. After that, President Trump and Prime Minister Abe traveled to Florida to spend the weekend in President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf course resort on Mr. Trump’s invitation.

The weekend trip included four hours of intimate golfing, a lavish Saturday night dinner and a joint statement condemning North Korea’s intermediate-range ballistic missile test that flew past Japan at 500 km.

Despite previous criticism from President Trump on Japanese exchange rate and trade deals, the due seemed to be getting along. Few details were released from the White House on the talks of the duo but the body language was oozing a sense of cooperation. Japan has been a long-term traditional ally in the United States and the most important and powerful partner in the Asia Pacific. Speaking alongside Mr. Abe at the White House on Friday, Mr. Trump assuaged many of the Japanese concerns by stressing the importance of the US-Japan alliance, and saying that tackling North Korea was a top priority.

When it comes to Japan, geopolitical ties are of more importance than the economic ones. While Mr. Abe needs the United States as a partner to reduce the influence of assertive China in Asia, Mr. Trump needs Japan in order to maintain strategic goals of the United States in the region.