Copyright kyodonews
TOKYO - Japan's new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and U.S. President Donald Trump commenced their first meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday, aiming to forge a closer personal relationship and bolster security cooperation amid Washington's calls for allies to spend more on defense. On the security front, Takaichi, who took office a week earlier, and Trump will likely agree on the importance of reinforcing the bilateral alliance's deterrence and response capabilities amid growing security challenges posed by China and North Korea. With Trump demanding that U.S. allies boost their defense budgets, Takaichi is expected to stress her plan, pledged in her parliamentary speech last week, to increase Japan's defense spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product by March, two years ahead of the previously set goal of fiscal 2027. Japan has been raising its defense budget significantly since the fiscal 2027 target was set when the government in late 2022 revised its long-term National Security Strategy, which Takaichi has pledged to update next year. Takaichi, a hard-line conservative and security hawk who is widely regarded as a protege of Shinzo Abe, aims to build a close relationship with Trump, known for his personal rapport with the former Japanese prime minister who was assassinated in 2022. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One before his arrival in Tokyo, Trump praised Takaichi for being "philosophically close" to Abe. The summit at the capital's state guest house comes as Tokyo and Washington have been beefing up their longtime alliance to address Beijing's intensifying military activities in the East and South China seas and Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development programs. In a phone call on Saturday, Takaichi told Trump that strengthening the bilateral alliance is her government's "top priority" and stressed Japan's importance in U.S. strategies toward China and the Indo-Pacific at large. Against a backdrop of high U.S. tariffs and China's control of rare earth exports, the rivalry between Washington and Beijing on various fronts has been intensifying. The two leaders are also expected to affirm the steady implementation of a trade agreement struck in July, which includes a Japanese commitment to invest $550 billion in key U.S. industries such as semiconductors, critical minerals and shipbuilding as well as increased purchases by Japan of U.S. agricultural and other products. Based on the bilateral deal, Trump lowered U.S. tariffs on goods from Japan, reducing the levy on automobiles to 15 percent from the previous rate of 27.5 percent. After the talks, Takaichi and Trump will fly on the Marine One presidential helicopter to the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo, where they will board the aircraft carrier George Washington, according to a White House source. Trump last visited Japan in 2019 for a Group of 20 summit in the western city of Osaka. He is on a three-nation Asian tour from Friday and visited Malaysia for Association of Southeast Asian Nations-related meetings before arriving in Japan. Trump will next travel to South Korea, where he plans to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.
