US President Donald 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.
Takaichi, a protegee of 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 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 Trump demands for Tokyo to spend more towards its security in the face of an increasingly assertive China, which Takaichi sought to head off by promising to fast-track plans to increase defence spending to 2% of GDP.
“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,” Trump told Takaichi as the pair sat down for discussions with their delegations at Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace.
Trump also praised Japan’s efforts to purchase more US defence equipment, while Takaichi said Trump’s role in securing ceasefires between Cambodia and Thailand, and Israel and Palestinian militants, was an “unprecedented” achievement.
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, 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 Abe.
“The United States is with them all the way,” 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 travelling to Japan late 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 on a trade war truce with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday.
