On Tuesday, while visiting Tokyo as part of an Asia trip to criticize a trade agreement with China, US President Donald Trump informed Japan’s new leader Sanae Takaichi that Washington is an ally of the highest caliber.
Just a few days after taking office, Takaichi saw Trump in person for the first time in the prime minister’s Tokyo home.
“We are an ally at the strongest level, and it’s a great honour to be with you, especially so early in what will be, I think, one of the greatest prime ministers,” he told Takaichi at their meeting.
“I would like to realize a new golden age of the Japan-US Alliance, where both Japan and the United States will become stronger and also more prosperous,” Takaichi added, underscoring the closeness of the two countries.
In an attempt to defuse the brutal trade war between the two largest economies in the world, which was triggered by broad US tariffs, Trump arrived in Tokyo on Monday. His visit is wedged between a trip to Malaysia and a meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea.
The agreement of a “framework” has been acknowledged by both Beijing and Washington negotiators.
Trump and Takaichi are anticipated to discuss trade and security among their allies in Tokyo.
Takashi Ito, a 58-year-old Tokyo resident, said that “what’s important is finding some kind of middle ground” on trade.
“Simply pushing to raise tariffs has already created various issues.”
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 percent 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 percent of GDP pledged by NATO members in June.
Professor Yee Kuang Heng of the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy told AFP that Takaichi has “preemptively” raised the objective in an effort to “deflect US pressure” on Japan to increase defense spending.
Trump is scheduled to speak on Tuesday on the USS George Washington aircraft carrier, which is docked at the US military facility Yokosuka, in addition to his meeting with Takaichi.
The chairman of the automaker Toyota is probably among the corporate executives he will be dining with.
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