Trump hails US-Japan alliance, offers PM Takaichi 'anything you want'

By Catherine Lucey, Yoshiaki Nohara and Sakura Murakami

 

President Donald Trump hailed the US’s alliance with Japan, reaffirming ties with a longstanding partner and praising new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on her plans to ratchet up defence spending as the pair met in Tokyo. 

“I want to just let you know anytime you have any question, any doubt, anything you want, any favors you need, anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there,” Trump said. “We are an ally at the strongest level.”

 

Trump also offered optimism that the two sides had overcome their trade disputes. 

 

 

“We’re going to do tremendous trade together, I think, more than ever before,” Trump said, adding that he hoped the US-Japan relationship would be “stronger than ever before.” 

The pair later signed documents on trade and critical minerals intended to formalize some elements of a trade deal brokered under Takaichi’s predecessor, which includes a nebulous pledge for Japan to fund $550 billion in US projects.

 

But documents by the White House on Tuesday suggested that the agreements remained ill-defined. The trade document simply “noted with satisfaction swift and continued efforts by both countries, and confirmed their strong commitment to implementing” their trade deal.

 

The critical minerals pact was also light on details, with the two nations simply pledging to coordinate on permitting, financing and mapping.  

 

Instead, the pair mostly heaped praise on each other. Takaichi told Trump she would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize over his diplomatic efforts, while Trump offered the prime minister signed golf hats reading “JAPAN IS BACK” in gold text. 

The US president also heralded Takaichi’s relationship with Shinzo Abe, a close ally of the US president who was assassinated at a campaign speech in 2022. Takaichi is a protégé of the former prime minister, and gifted the US president his putter and a golf bag signed by Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama.

 

Following a private lunch, the pair met with the families of Japanese citizens that Tokyo says were abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. Trump previously said he’d be willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the trip, and Japan is hopeful that the US president could raise their cases if a sitdown takes place. 

 

On Tuesday, Trump said he had been too busy to arrange a meeting but “we’ll see what’s going on.”

 

“I’m with them all the way, and the US is with them all the way,” Trump said of the families. 

 

North Korea has disputed involvement in the disappearances and not yet publicly responded to Trump’s invitations to meet.  

 

Later, the pair are expected to hold a signing ceremony and then, later in the day, tour the USS George Washington— a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier — at the Yokosuka naval base south of Tokyo.

 

“Both Japan and the United States have developed the greatest alliance in the world, and together with you, Japan is ready to contribute toward world peace and stability,” Takaichi said. “As leader, I will do everything in my power to make Japan a great national power,” she added. 

The meeting is a high-stakes test for the new prime minister, who was elected Japan’s first female prime minister earlier this month. Her Liberal Democratic Party is recovering from a slush-fund scandal that prompted the resignation of two prime ministers, and she is navigating implementation of the trade deal.

 

For Takaichi, who is facing a debt pinch and also seeking to accelerate defence spending – another priority for Trump – there’s incentive to keep elements of the trade deal loosely defined. There’s also precedent, with Trump this week penning framework deals with Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia that were light on specifics. 

 

The two nations have described the investment fund differently. Trump has previously cast the $550 billion as money that his administration could “invest as we like” with 90 per cent of the profits being given to the US. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had said Tokyo would offer a combination of investments, loans, and loan guarantees, characterizing it as a way to back up Japanese firms’ US projects. 

 

Akazawa has said the $550 billion investment won’t affect currency markets as Tokyo will fund it via methods including loans from the foreign exchange special account, generally using what Japan already holds in dollar terms.

 

Japan’s deal already sets a maximum 15 per cent tariff on most of the country’s exports to the US, including automobiles and parts, and includes a safety clause in the deal to ensure it won’t be treated worse than any other nation in terms of future sectoral tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

 

Takaichi appears to have laid the groundwork ahead of Trump’s visit in anticipation of questions over whether Japan is pulling its weight in the alliance. 

 

In her first speech to parliament as prime minister on Friday Takaichi pledged to achieve the goal of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence by March of next year, two years earlier than the previous plan.

 

She also emphasized that security concerns related to China and North Korea’s nuclear and missile developments must be addressed, and that Japan needs to proactively strengthen its defence capabilities from their foundation.

 

“I am determined to restore dynamic Japan’s diplomacy, to protect Japan’s own national interests. In addition, I am ready to promote further cooperation with you and with the United States, for our shared goal of achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Takaichi said in her meeting with Trump on Tuesday, adding that she would strive to strengthen Japan’s defence capabilities and economic power.

 

Her hawkish stance on foreign policy and her willingness to spend more on defence will likely create a positive backdrop for her dealings with Trump. Still, compared with the pledge by European nations to bring defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP, Japan’s outlays may still seem insufficient from Trump’s point of view.

 

“Everything I know from Shinzo and others, you will be one of the great prime ministers,” Trump said.

 

Trump’s sit-down with Takaichi comes during a three-nation tour to Asia that started with a visit to Malaysia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit and will be capped by an expected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.