Trump says 'unfair' defence treaty with Japan needs to be changed

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump talk prior to a working lunch at the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Osaka, Japan, on Friday, June 28, 2019. Kiyoshi Ota/Pool via REUTERS

OSAKA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said he had told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that a decades-old security treaty between their countries must be changed, reiterating his criticism of the pact as unfair.

Trump said he was not planning to withdraw from the treaty, which the partners have long called a linchpin of Asia-Pacific stability, but that it placed too great a burden on the United States.