Trump praises Japan’s ‘great’ female leader in talks on trade, critical minerals

TOKYO — US President Donald J. Trump lavished praise on Japan’s first female leader Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Tuesday, welcoming her pledge to accelerate a military buildup and signing deals on trade and rare earths.

Ms. Takaichi, a protegee of Mr. Trump’s late friend and golfing buddy Japanese leader Shinzo Abe, applauded the President’s push to resolve global conflicts and said she would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to Mr. Trump’s spokesperson.

Japan is also expected to offer a package of US investments under a $550-billion deal agreed this year, including shipbuilding, and pledge purchases of US soybeans, gas and pickup trucks, sources familiar with the talks said.

Those gestures may temper any Mr. Trump demands for Tokyo to spend more towards its security in the face of an increasingly assertive China, which Ms. Takaichi sought to head off by promising to fast-track plans to increase defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product.

“Everything I know from Shinzo and others, you will be one of the great prime ministers. I’d also like to congratulate you on being the first woman prime minister. It’s a big deal,” Mr. Trump told Ms. Takaichi as the pair sat down for discussions with their delegations at Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace.

TAKAICHI INVOKES ABE LEGACY
Ms. Takaichi repeatedly referenced Mr. Abe’s affection for Mr. Trump and gifted him his putter enclosed in a glass case, a golf bag signed by Japanese major winner Hideki Matsuyama and a gold-leaf golf ball, according to photos posted on X by Mr. Trump’s assistant Margo Martin.

Mr. Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, was the first foreign leader to meet Mr. Trump after his 2016 election victory and the pair went on to forge a close bond over several rounds of golf in the United States and Japan.

Over a lunch of US rice and beef, and vegetables from Ms. Takaichi’s hometown of Nara, the Japanese leader presented Mr. Trump with a map of major investments Japanese firms have made in the United States since his last visit in 2009.

At least 10 Japanese companies are eyeing more than $400 billion of US investments in areas such as energy and artificial intelligence, which the two governments are set to announce later on Tuesday, public broadcaster NHK reported.

DEAL ON CRITICAL MINERALS SIGNED
Mr. Trump also praised Japan’s efforts to purchase more US defense equipment, while Ms. Takaichi said Mr. Trump’s role in securing ceasefires between Cambodia and Thailand, and Israel and Palestinian militants, were “unprecedented” achievements.

The leaders then signed an agreement to support the supply of critical minerals and rare earths, as the countries seek to wean reliance off China’s chokehold on the materials crucial for a wide range of products from smartphones to fighter jets.

The deal aims to jointly identify projects of interest in areas such as magnets and batteries over the next six months and work together to develop stockpiles of key minerals among other measures.

After lunch, Mr. Trump met with relatives of people abducted by North Korea in the 1960s and 1970s to train its spies and their relatives. While some were later repatriated, Japan continues to press Pyongyang for a full accounting of all the abductees and the return of any who remain alive, a cause championed by Mr. Abe.

“The United States is with them all the way,” Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly said he is open to meeting North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong Un during his Asia visit, told reporters after greeting the families.

The US leader began his five-day visit to Asia in Malaysia on Sunday before traveling to Japan late on Monday and heading straight to the Imperial Palace for a meeting with Japanese Emperor Naruhito.

He hopes to cap off his trip, his longest overseas journey since returning to the White House in January, by agreeing a trade war truce with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday.

VISIT US NAVAL BASE
Ms. Takaichi’s efforts to invoke Mr. Abe’s legacy to forge a bond with Mr. Trump could help bolster her weak political position at home and help her navigate Mr. Trump’s at times erratic decision-making, analysts said.

Though she has seen a surge in public support since becoming prime minister, her coalition government is two votes shy of a majority in parliament’s lower house.

Mr. Trump and Ms. Takaichi will later visit the US naval base in Yokosuka near Tokyo, which is home to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, part of the US military’s powerful presence in the region.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is due to hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi on Wednesday.

Mr. Trump will meet business leaders in Tokyo later on Tuesday, before traveling on Wednesday to South Korea where he will meet President Lee Jae Myung ahead of his Thursday summit with Mr. Xi. — Reuters