WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House on Friday for his second Oval Office meeting with a foreign leader since returning to office last month.
While showering the U.S.-Japan relationship with praise throughout the prime minister’s visit — which included a sit-down in the Oval Office, an expanded meeting with both leaders’ teams and a joint news conference — Trump made clear addressing the $68 billion trade deficit between the two nations was a priority.
“Yes,” Trump responded when asked in the Oval Office whether placing tariffs — a staple of his trade agenda — on Japan was an option to balance the deficit between the two.
But he added: "We have a fantastic relationship. I don’t think we’ll have any problem whatsoever. They want fairness also.”
The U.S. leader — who recently reached agreements with Mexico and Canada to delay his long-pledged tariffs on imports from those countries and tacked an extra levy on goods from China — said he would be announcing reciprocal tariffs on many countries next week.
At the pair’s news conference later, Trump announced that Japan’s Nippon Steel — which he mistakenly referred to as “Nissan” — is dropping its bid to purchase U.S. Steel and instead will invest in the company.
The announcement marks a significant shift after former President Joe Biden blocked Nippon’s offer from going through in a move that potentially threatened to cause a rift in the consequential U.S.-Japan alliance. As a candidate, Trump also vowed to ax the merger if elected — a stance he reiterated when asked by reporters in the Oval Office on Friday.
The president said he plans to meet with the head of Nippon next week.
Also developing from talks, Trump announced that Japan will “soon begin importing historical shipments of clean, American liquified natural gas in record numbers,” a victory for Republicans and the new U.S. leader after Biden sought to pause new efforts to expand such exports.
Trump said the nations are also in discussion about an “exciting” joint venture regarding Alaska oil and gas involving a pipeline.
For his part, Ishiba sought to paint further investment from Japan in the U.S. as a major priority, noting that his country has already been at the top of the list for cumulative foreign direct investment in America for five years.
He also pledged his commitment to “reinforcing” Japan’s defense capabilities. Japan has said it intends to increase spending on defense to 2% of its GDP by 2027 – a topic that is a focus for Trump, who has repeatedly called on European NATO allies to up the funds they put into their militaries.
The meeting between the freshly inaugurated U.S. leader and the new Japanese prime minister, who assumed office in October, marked the pair’s first and will have to follow a particularly rosy relationship between Trump and former Japanese leader Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022 after leaving office.
“I had the privilege of working closely with the great prime minister — as you know and you know well — Shinzo Abe, the longest serving prime minister in Japan’s history,” Trump said. “Likewise, I expect that this prime minister is going to be a great one. I really believe that.”
Trump said the pair also discussed more broadly the countries’ economic relationship and agreed to cooperate more to combat “Chinese economic aggression.”
“After our meeting today, I’m confident that the cherished alliances between our two countries and others also will continue to flourish long and into the future,” Trump said. “The military cooperation between the United States and Japan is one of our closest security partnerships.”
The president also pledged to bring back the relations with North Korea he developed in his first term, touting his personal relationship with the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, as a “very big asset for everybody.”