Japan’s new premier Sanae Takaichi lavished US leader Donald Trump with praise and vows of a ‘golden age’ of ties on his visit to Tokyo Tuesday, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals and shipbuilding.
Takaichi — Japan’s first woman prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage, and even announced she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said.
Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January, and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world, a role that experts, however, downplay.
In return for Takaichi’s plaudits, Trump, who was meeting the conservative premier for the first time on an Asia tour that aims for a deal with China, said Washington was an ally of the ‘strongest level’.
‘It’s a great honour to be with you, especially so early in what will be, I think, one of the greatest prime ministers,’ Trump told Takaichi at the Akasaka Palace state guest house.
Takaichi praised Trump’s efforts towards a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia and his ‘unprecedented historic achievement’ of the Gaza deal.
She also gifted him a golf bag signed by star player Hideki Matsuyama and a putter belonging to assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe, who had a close personal relationship with Trump, the White House said.
‘I would like to realise a new golden age of the Japan-US Alliance, where both Japan and the United States will become stronger and also more prosperous,’ Takaichi said.
Speaking later alongside Trump on board the USS George Washington near Tokyo, Takaichi told a crowd of hundreds of sailors that she was ‘committed to fundamentally reinforce’ Japan’s defence capabilities, noting her nation faces ‘unprecedented’ security dangers.
Trump, who came to the stage pumping his fist, waving and clapping as the audience cheered, said he had approved the first batch of missiles to be delivered to Japan’s Self-Defence Forces for their F-35 fighter jets and they would arrive this week.
He also said the United States was going be working with Japan on ‘making ships’, as commerce secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday signed an MOU to boost cooperation in shipbuilding.
China dominates the global shipbuilding industry which has been in steady decline in the United States — but Trump has promised a revival of the sector.
The two sides earlier signed an agreement aimed at ‘achieving resilience and security of critical minerals and rare earths supply chains’, a statement said.
Beijing this month announced sweeping restrictions on the rare earths industry, prompting Trump to threaten 100 per cent tariffs on imports from China in retaliation.
Trump also squeezed in a meeting with families of Japanese people abducted by North Korea decades ago, where he said ‘the US is with them all the way’ as they asked for help to find their loved ones.
After years of denial, North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had sent agents to kidnap 13 Japanese people who were used to train spies in Japanese language and customs. Japan says it also abducted others.
Trump and Takaichi were expected to focus on security and trade between their allied countries.
On security, long-pacifist Japan is adopting a more muscular military stance as relations with China worsen.
Takaichi, a China hawk who last week became the first woman to serve as Japan’s prime minister, said her government would achieve its target of spending two per cent of gross domestic product on defence this year — two years ahead of schedule.
The United States, which has around 60,000 military personnel in Japan, wants Tokyo to spend even more, potentially matching the five per cent of GDP pledged by NATO members in June.
Most Japanese imports into the United States are subject to tariffs of 15 per cent, less painful than the 25 per cent first threatened.
But the levies still contributed to a 24-per cent slump in US-bound car exports in September in value terms year-on-year.
Under the terms of a July trade deal shared by the White House, Japan is also expected to invest $550 billion in the United States.
Trump arrived in Tokyo on Monday for a visit sandwiched between a trip to Malaysia and a meeting in South Korea with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that could ease the bruising trade war.
The greatest prize for Trump — and for global markets — remains a China trade deal.
Trump is due to meet Xi on Thursday in South Korea for their first face-to-face talks since the 79-year-old Republican’s return to office in January.
