TOKYO: United States President Donald Trump will meet Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Tuesday (Oct 28) for talks on trade and security, a week after the hardline conservative became Japan’s first female leader and vowed to accelerate a military buildup.
Takaichi is expected to offer a package of US investments in a US$550-billion deal agreed this year, including cooperation in shipbuilding, sources familiar with the preparations previously told Reuters.
She will also seek to please the leader of Japan’s trade partner and security ally with purchases of pickup trucks, soybeans and natural gas, the sources said.
While Trump has previously said Tokyo is not spending enough to defend its islands from an increasingly assertive China, Takaichi is not expected to commit to new defence spending targets beyond the 2 per cent of GDP pledged by her predecessors.
Trump, who met Japan’s emperor on Monday, will hold summit talks and have lunch with Takaichi at the Akasaka Palace, before heading to a major US naval base south of the capital.
