Trump promises ‘rapid’ action next week to boost security

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said Friday he was confident his administration would prevail in the court battle over its controversial immigration order, while pledging to move quickly on additional national security measures.

“We’ll be doing something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our country,” he told a joint White House news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “You’ll be seeing that sometime next week.”

“In addition we will continue to go through the court process, and I have no doubt we’ll win that particular case,” Trump saidץ

An appellate court decided unanimously on Thursday to maintain a block on Trump’s order barring refugees and nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States — a ruling Trump denounced as “disgraceful.”

But Trump skirted the setback while vowing to do “whatever is necessary to keep our country safe.”

The case is seen as likely to be appealed to the Supreme Court, although it could go back for further review in the lower courts.

Trump’s executive order issued in late January summarily denied entry to all refugees for 120 days, and travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Refugees from Syria were blocked indefinitely.

The measure — given with no notice — set off detentions of incoming travelers, protests at airports and international condemnation until a federal judge in Seattle stepped in and suspended the order a week later.

In upholding the suspension, the US court of appeals in San Francisco said Thursday the government had provided no evidence that any alien from the countries named in the order had carried out a terrorist attack on US soil.

“We hold that the government has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits of its appeal, nor has it shown that failure to enter a stay would cause irreparable injury,” the three-judge appellate panel ruled.

Trump’s initial reaction came minutes later on Twitter: “SEE YOU IN COURT, THE SECURITY OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!”

He followed up early Friday with a tweet calling the court’s ruling “a disgraceful decision!”

In the tweet, Trump selectively quoted from a post on Lawfare, a blog on law and national security issues.

The quoted passage found it “remarkable” that the appellate panel “did not even bother to cite” a key US statute that authorizes the president to suspend entry to the United States of all or any class of aliens he deems detrimental to US interests.

The blog went on to conclude, however, that the appellate court reached the correct decision.

The decision was right, it said, “for the simple reason that there is no cause to plunge the country into turmoil again while the courts address the merits of these matters over the next few weeks.”

At the news conference with Abe, Trump said that as president, he had learned of “tremendous threats to our country.”

“We will not allow that to happen. We’ll be going forward and continuing to do things to make our country safe. It will happen rapidly.

“We will not allow people into our country who are looking to do harm,” he said. “We will allow lots of people into our country that will love our people and do good for our country.”

Trump and Abe pledged closer security and trade ties after the meeting featuring brotherly hugs, jokes and plenty of words of mutual admiration.

The Japanese leader flew into Washington hoping to mend ties strained by Trump’s willingness to question long-standing defense commitments and his rejection of a trans-Pacific trade deal backed by Tokyo.

Addressing a joint news conference after their talks, Trump signalled that he too was looking to cement ties between the two countries.

“We’re committed to the security of Japan,” Trump said.

“The bond between our two nations and the friendship between our two peoples runs very, very deep. This administration is committed to bringing those ties even closer.”

Both leaders also moved to smooth over tensions caused by Trump’s rejection of the Trans-Pacific Partnership — considered dead as a result.

Trade relations, they agreed, should benefit both nations, an issue set to feature on the agenda and their upcoming working lunch.

“On the economy, we will seek a trading relationship that is free, fair, and reciprocal,” Trump said.

Washington has a hefty trade deficit with Tokyo — its second largest after China — something the US president views unfavorably.

Abe, meanwhile, said that Tokyo and Washington should take on a “leadership” role in creating a fair market “based on rules.”

Earlier Friday, Abe told business leaders that US-Japanese commerce had been “win-win” as he highlighted the hundreds of thousands of American jobs created by Japanese investments.

The two leaders — who head later Friday to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida for a day of golf — were also expected to find common cause on the issue of China.

Tokyo was often concerned about president Barack Obama’s willingness to work with Beijing, and Trump has been expected to take a tougher line.

The US president sought to reassure Abe that Japan should not feel threatened by what he described as a “very warm” conversation he had with China’s Xi Jinping a day earlier in which he vowed to respect the “One China” policy.

“We had a very, very good talk last night, and discussed a lot of subjects. It was a long talk,” Trump said, adding that he and Xi were “in the process of getting along very well, and I think it will be very much of a benefit to Japan.”