This month in the White House’s Rose Garden, as he held up a placard showing the global wave of tariffs he wanted to impose, President Trump paused to fondly recall a fallen friend.

“The prime minister of Japan, Shinzo, was — Shinzo Abe — he was a fantastic man,” Mr. Trump said during the tariff announcement on April 2. “He was, unfortunately, taken from us, assassination.”

The words of praise for Mr. Abe, who was gunned down three years ago during a campaign speech, did not stop Mr. Trump from slapping a 24 percent tariff on products imported from Japan. But they were unusual, nonetheless, coming from a president who has had few nice things to say these days about other allies, particularly Canada and Europe.

Mr. Trump has also allowed Japan to become one of the first countries to come to Washington to bargain for a possible reprieve from his sweeping tariffs, many of which he has put on hold for 90 days. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump joined the first meeting in the capital between a negotiator handpicked by Japan’s current prime minister and a U.S. team that also included the secretaries of treasury and commerce.

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“A Great Honor to have just met with the Japanese Delegation on Trade. Big Progress!” the president posted on his social media site.

Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, in Washington on Wednesday.Credit…Jiji Press, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images