U.S. President Donald Trump heaped praise on Japan’s first leader Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Tuesday, hailing her pledge to speed up the military build-up and sign deals on trade and rare earth metals.
Takaichi, a protégé of Trump’s late friend and golf partner, Japanese leader Shinzo Abe, hailed the president’s efforts to resolve global conflicts and said she would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to a Trump spokesman.
Japan is also expected to offer a package of U.S. investments as part of a $550 billion deal agreed this year, including shipbuilding, and a pledge to buy U.S. soybeans, gasoline and pickup trucks, sources familiar with the talks said.
The gestures could soften any Trump demands that Tokyo spend more on its security in the face of an increasingly assertive China, which Takaichi has tried to stave off by promising to accelerate plans to increase defense spending to 2% of GDP.
– Everything I know from Shinzo and others, you will be one of the great prime ministers. I would also like to congratulate you on being the first female Prime Minister. It’s a big deal,” Trump told Takaichi as the two sat for talks with their respective delegations at Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace.
“Anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there.”
President Trump congratulated Japan’s first woman Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, calling the US an ally of the country “at the strongest level.” pic.twitter.com/aXJkNsNdhx
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 28, 2025
Takaichi repeatedly mentioned Abe’s fondness for Trump and presented him with her golf club in a glass case, a golf bag signed by Japanese Grand Slam winner Hideki Matsuyama and a gold-leaf golf ball, according to photos posted on X by Trump aide Margo Martin.
Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, was the first foreign leader to meet Trump after his 2016 election victory, and the two have built a close relationship over several rounds of golf in the United States and Japan.
(Vijesti.ba/Fena)
