Trump praises Japan's 'great' female leader in talks on trade, critical minerals
- - Trump praises Japan's 'great' female leader in talks on trade, critical minerals
By Trevor Hunnicutt, Tim Kelly and John GeddieOctober 28, 2025 at 6:45 AM
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US President Donald Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrive for the Japan-US summit meeting at Akasaka Palace State Guest House in Tokyo, Japan, 28 October 2025. FRANCK ROBICHON/Pool via REUTERS
By Trevor Hunnicutt, Tim Kelly and John Geddie
TOKYO (Reuters) -U.S. 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 U.S. investments under a $550-billion deal agreed this year, including shipbuilding, and pledge purchases of U.S. 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.
Takaichi repeatedly referenced Abe's affection for 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 Trump's assistant Margo Martin.
Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, was the first foreign leader to meet 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 U.S. rice and beef, and vegetables from Takaichi's hometown of Nara, the Japanese leader presented 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 U.S. investments in areas such as energy and artificial intelligence, which the two governments are set to announce later on Tuesday, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Trump also praised Japan's efforts to purchase more U.S. defence equipment, while Takaichi said 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, 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 U.S. leader began his five-day visit to Asia in Malaysia on Sunday before traveling 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 a trade war truce with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday.
VISIT U.S. NAVAL BASE
Takaichi's efforts to invoke Abe's legacy to forge a bond with Trump could help bolster her weak political position at home and help her navigate 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.
Trump and Takaichi will later visit the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka near Tokyo, which is home to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, part of the U.S. military's powerful presence in the region.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is due to hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi on Wednesday.
Trump will meet business leaders in Tokyo later on Tuesday, before travelling on Wednesday to South Korea where he will meet President Lee Jae Myung ahead of his Thursday summit with Xi.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly, Trevor Hunnicutt, John Geddie, Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Lincoln Feast)
Source: “AOL General News”
