Trump heads to Tokyo for trade talks ahead of Xi summit
US President Donald Trump is heading to Tokyo to meet with Japan’s emperor and newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi as part of his Asia trip aimed at securing trade deals, investment and increased defense spending.
Trump, who embarked on his longest trip abroad since taking office in January, announced that he had made a series of agreements with Southeast Asian countries during his first stop in Malaysia and oversaw the signing of a ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia.
His visit is expected to end with a summit in South Korea on Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping, where the world’s two largest economies will try to prevent an escalation of trade wars.
While Trump has already received promises of US$550 billion ($A842 billion) in investment from Japan in exchange for a break on punitive import tariffs, Takaichi hopes to impress him further with promises to buy US trucks, soybeans and gas.
Takaichi, who last week became Japan’s first female prime minister, told Trump in their first phone call on Saturday that strengthening their country’s alliance was his “number one priority.”
Thousands of police have been deployed in Japan’s capital for Trump’s arrival, with a knife-wielding man arrested outside the US embassy on Friday and an anti-Trump protest planned in downtown Shinjuku.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and his Japanese counterpart Ryosei Akazawa, the architects of the tariff deal agreed in July, will host a working lunch on Monday.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is traveling with Secretary of State Marco Rubio along with Trump, is also expected to meet with his new counterpart Satsuki Katayama for the first time.
Trump’s first meeting in Japan will be to meet Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace in the heart of Tokyo.
Trump became the first foreign leader to meet Naruhito after he ascended to the throne in 2019, continuing the imperial streak in what some claim is the world’s oldest hereditary monarchy.
But Naruhito’s role is purely symbolic, and strong diplomacy will take place with Takaichi on Tuesday.
Takaichi was a close ally of assassinated Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe; He bonded with Trump over hours spent on the golf course during his first term and already appears to have impressed the US president.
“He’s great…we’ll see him very soon. He’s very friendly,” Trump told reporters after a call with reporters on Saturday.
“He was a very, very close ally and friend of Prime Minister Abe, and you know he was one of my favorites.”
The two will meet at nearby Akasaka Palace, where Trump met Abe six years ago.
Takaichi told lawmakers on Friday about Japan’s World War II. Tokyo is expected to reassure Trump that it is willing to do more on security after saying it would step up its biggest defense buildup since World War II.
Japan hosts the largest concentration of US forces abroad, and Trump has previously complained that Tokyo is not spending enough to defend its islands against an increasingly assertive China.
“Some sort of statement about standing shoulder to shoulder to deter and respond to attempts to change the status quo in the region through force or pressure would be helpful,” said Kevin Maher, a Japan expert and former U.S. diplomat at NMV Consulting in Washington.
Although Takaichi has said he will accelerate his plan to increase defense spending to two percent of GDP, he may have difficulty committing Japan to the additional increases Trump has demanded because the ruling coalition does not have a majority in parliament.
Trump will travel to Gyeongju on Wednesday, where he will meet with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung for the first time.
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