That’s a dig at China.
This is the second time PM Abe has come offering gifts to POTUS.
Abe is smart enough to know that the old Bretton Woods system is at an end. Global trade pacts are realigning and the US is being viewed as the only “safe house” left on the globe (resources, rule-of-law, security, corporate property/incorporation, and customers). A more apt term would be “the least dirtiest shirt in the hamper”.
Japan isn’t the only one to read the tea leaves. Korea, SouthEast Asia, Mexico, Brazil and England have made various types of concession(s) or deals with the US. The ones that haven’t received the memo (most notably China and Germany) are gonna find out the hard way that the US has a variety of suppliers to choose from.