Tokyo: US President Donald Trump heaped praise on Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s first female leader, during their meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday, congratulating her on her pledge to accelerate the country’s military buildup and signing deals on trade and key minerals.
According to Thai News Agency, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters that Takaichi also said she would nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Insiders say the Japanese prime minister is expected to propose a US investment package under a $550 billion deal agreed this year, covering the shipbuilding industry and increasing purchases of US soybeans, natural gas, and pickup trucks. These gestures could temper Trump’s demands for Tokyo to spend more to defend against an increasingly assertive China, which Takaichi pledged last week to accelerate plans to increase defense spending to 2% of GDP.
Trump also praised Japan’s efforts to purchase more US defense equipment, while Takaichi called Trump’s role in pushing for ceasefires between Cambodia and Thailand, and Israel and Palestinian armed groups, an “unprecedented” achievement. Takaichi is the latest world leader to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize that Trump has long said he deserves.
During their visit to Japan, the US and Japanese leaders signed an agreement to bolster the supply of critical minerals and rare earths, as both countries look to reduce their reliance on China, which controls supplies of materials crucial to a range of products from smartphones to fighter jets. The agreement aims to jointly develop promising projects in areas such as magnets and batteries within the next six months, and to collaborate on the development of key mineral reserves, among other measures.
After lunch with Takaichi, Trump met with relatives of those abducted by North Korea in the 1960s and 1970s for spy training and their relatives. Although some were later repatriated, Japan continues to urge North Korea to clarify all abductees and repatriate those still alive.
Trump and Takaichi are scheduled to visit the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, near Tokyo, home to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington. Trump will then meet with business leaders in Tokyo before traveling to South Korea on Wednesday for the APEC summit, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump has said he hopes to reach a truce in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies.