United Nations, Sep 23 (IANS) US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi used a meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York to underline the strength of their countries’ alliance and growing cooperation on economic security.
Trump opened the bilateral meeting with fulsome praise for Takaichi, calling her a friend and predicting that she would be remembered as one of Japan’s leading prime ministers.
“She’s done a great job. Her numbers, I watch her numbers all the time, and the industry in Japan is doing very well. The country is doing very well, very big improvement,” Trump said.
“It’s an honor to be with her. She’s a friend of mine. We got to know each other very well over the last period of time, and she’s going to be a great prime minister,” he added.
Trump also commended the Japanese officials accompanying Takaichi. “They’re tough and they’re smart and it’s an honor to be with you,” he said.
Takaichi, speaking through an interpreter, thanked Trump for what she described as his firm support for the partnership between the two countries as security challenges become more acute, particularly in Asia.
“I would like to start off by reiterating my gratitude for Donald’s very, very powerful commitment to the Japan-US alliance against the backdrop of increasingly severe security environment, including Asian security environment in recent years,” she said.
The Japanese leader said the New York meeting was intended to send a wider message about the durability of the relationship.
“I would like to seize this opportunity to demonstrate to the world how robust our alliance is through holding another round of meeting with Donald today here at this venue, UN headquarters,” she said.
Takaichi also briefed Trump on a recent cabinet reshuffle. She said 10 of the 18 ministers in her government were new appointees. But she stressed that key officials handling foreign policy, finance, economic matters and defence had remained in their posts.
Takaichi said continuity among senior officials would help sustain direct working relationships with their US counterparts and advance coordination between Washington and Tokyo.
“So it is fair to say that we can expect this person-to-person counterpart relationship being a driver to promote policy coordination,” she said. “And by doing so, I look forward to deepening our alliance between the two countries.”
The prime minister highlighted economic security as another expanding area of the relationship. She pointed specifically to artificial intelligence, semiconductors and critical minerals, sectors that have become central to strategic and industrial policy in both countries.
“And as a matter of fact, thanks to Donald’s leadership and also my own leadership, our bilateral economic security cooperation in areas such as AI, semiconductor and critical minerals has been steadily advancing,” Takaichi said.
She indicated that the private discussions would cover a broad agenda before asking reporters to leave the room. Trump responded: “Well, you heard her.”
The United States and Japan are bound by the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security, signed in 1960. Washington has long described the alliance as central to its security interests in Asia and to stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.
The two countries also work together in multilateral forums, including the United Nations, the G7, the G20 and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Their partnership spans security, trade, technology and coordination on regional and global issues.
--IANS
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