President Donald Trump praised Japan‘s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi Tuesday morning in Tokyo for being the first woman to ever hold the position.
Takaichi, who was sworn in last week, is the protégé of the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a friend of Trump’s who was assassinated in 2022.
‘Shinzo Abe was a great friend of mine and I was very sad to see what happened,’ Trump told Takaichi at Akasaka Palace during their first in-person meeting. ‘It was so shocking.’
Trump had been welcomed to the prime minister’s state guest house with a regal ceremony and then was brought into another room where the U.S. and Japanese delegations sat across from one another.
‘But he spoke so well of you even before we knew what was going to happen with your ascension, he spoke so well of you long before we met,’ Trump continued. ‘And I’m not surprised to see that you are now the prime minister.’
Later in their brief remarks, Trump turned to the history-making part of Takaichi’s resume.
‘I’d also like to congratulate you on being the first woman prime minister,’ the president said. ‘That’s a big deal. That’s a big deal. I want to congratulate you on that. I think that has to be called out.’
Trump also predicted that Takaichi, who hails from Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, which is actually conservative in nature, would be one of Japan’s ‘greatest prime ministers.’
President Donald Trump (left) and the U.S. delegation hold a bilateral meeting Tuesday in Tokyo at Akasaka Place with Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (right), the first woman to hold the job
President Donald Trump (left) and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (right) participate in a welcome ceremony Tuesday morning at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan, before their first face-to-face meeting
Takaichi, speaking through a translator, also flattered Trump.
‘As a matter of fact, Prime Minister Abe often told me about your dynamic diplomacy,’ she said, pointing to the peace deal Trump signed Monday in Malaysia between Thailand and Cambodia.
She also touted Trump’s role in trying to achieve an end to the war in Gaza.
‘In such a short period of time, the world started to enjoy more peace on the ground,’ she said. ‘And in this context, I highly value your unwavering commitment toward peace and stability.’
To further lighten the mood of the meeting, Takaichi said she was enthusiastically watching the World Series.
Japanese great Shohei Ohtani plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are battling the Toronto Blue Jays in the series.
She also highlighted how Japan is donating 250 cherry trees to Washington, D.C., to celebrate the U.S.’s 250th birthday next year.
The cherry trees will replace ones that had to be removed – including ‘Stumpy,’ a beloved half-dead cherry tree that continued to bloom – to shore up the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial.
Takaichi also noted how Japanese fireworks would be used in next year’s Fourth of July celebration in the nation’s capital.
Afterward, the leaders signed two agreements – one on critical minerals and the other implementing a ‘golden age’ in the U.S.-Japanese alliance.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae (left) walks alongside President Donald Trump (right) at a welcome ceremony at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo Tuesday morning
President Donald Trump (left) attends a meeting Tuesday morning at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, meeting Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for the first time
President Donald Trump reviews an honor guard during a welcome ceremony Tuesday morning at the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan
President Donald Trump (left) attends a signing ceremony with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (right) at the Akasaka Palace Tuesday morning in Tokyo
Japan was Trump’s second stop in Asia on his three-country tour, which will conclude with a high-stakes meeting Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Officials from the U.S. and China signaled over the weekend that a possible end to the trade war was in sight, with a potential deal that would keep the dangerous fentanyl supply from coming into the U.S.
Beijing would also buy a ‘substantial’ amount of U.S. soybeans and other agricultural products while lowering barriers for the U.S. to access rare earth minerals.
On board Air Force One, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said ‘we had a very good meeting.’
‘But nothing has been agreed to yet,’ Trump cautioned. ‘But we feel good.’
The meeting with Xi is expected to take place on Thursday, directly before the president returns to the United States.
The president also teased that they ‘might’ finalize the TikTok deal during his meeting with the Chinese leader. ‘I mean, we got an original approval from President Xi. I expect we have an approval, but I’d rather wait a couple of days to let you know,’ he said.
The president kicked off his three-country tour of Asia Sunday morning with Trumpian flair, doing his trademark fist-pump dance alongside native dancers as he arrived in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
President Donald Trump touched down in Tokyo, Japan Monday evening – the second country he’s visiting on his tour of Asia this week. While in Tokyo, he’ll meet with the country’s new prime minister
President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One in Tokyo, Japan Monday evening
President Donald Trump spoke with reporters on board Air Force One as he traveled between Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Tokyo, Japan
He traditionally does those moves to the song YMCA by the Village People.
Trump allies applauded that video of the president dancing, shot by his longtime aide Margo Martin, had gone viral.
At the ASEAN summit, Trump announced the finalization of trade deals with Malaysia and Cambodia and said progress was made in completing two more, with Vietnam and Thailand.
Trump also put on his peacemaker hat, attending a signing ceremony for an enhanced ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, after the countries engaged in a brief border conflict in July.
On the sidelines of the summit, Trump also met with Brazil’s leader, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the talks had gone well and expressed confidence that the U.S. and Brazil could also ink a trade deal.
The president had threatened to hike tariffs on Brazil over the country’s prosecution of a Trump political ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro, who was sentenced to prison for plotting a coup.
On board Air Force One en route to Tokyo, Trump said his meeting with Lula was ‘very good’ but added ‘I don’t know if anything’s gonna happen, but we’ll see.’
He also wished the Brazilian leader a happy birthday.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (left) spoke with reporters alongside President Donald Trump (right) during the flight Monday between Malaysia and Japan, giving updates on a brewing Chinese trade deal
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt captures President Donald Trump participating in a gaggle with reporters on board Air Force One en route to Tokyo, Japan on Monday
‘I want to wish the president happy birthday, OK? It’s his birthday today. He’s a very vigorous guy, actually, and it was very impressive, but today’s his birthday, so happy birthday,’ Trump said.
Trump had harsher words for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who will also be traveling to South Korea for the APEC conference.
‘I don’t want to meet with him, no. I’m not going to be meeting with him for a while,’ Trump told reporters en route to Tokyo.
The president was enraged over an ad campaign spearheaded by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, which quoted the late Republican Ronald Reagan’s warning about tariffs.
‘Ronald Reagan loved tariffs. He used them sparingly, which he probably made a mistake in that, and again, I was the biggest fan of Ronald Reagan, but on finance, on trade, it wasn’t his strong suit,’ Trump said. ‘But he liked tariffs and they totally changed that to say that he didn’t.’
The president also claimed that ‘Canada has been ripping us off for a long time.’
Trump’s trip to Asia marks his sixth trip abroad since he returned to the White House.
He traveled to Rome with First Lady Melania Trump in April for the funeral of Pope Francis and hit up three countries in the Middle East – Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates several weeks later.
Trump traveled to Canada for the G7 in June – cutting that trip short to deal with the brief war between Israel and Iran.
He and the first lady then took part in a historic second royal state visit to the United Kingdom in September, being feted by King Charles in the historic Windsor Castle.
Earlier this month, he flew to Israel and Egypt to ink a peace deal to try and bring an end to the war in Gaza.
