Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Friday to discuss trade, military, and defense industrial cooperation issues.
National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes told reporters during a Feb. 7 press call that topics of discussion would include joint military exercises to counter communist China, increasing Japanese investment in the United States, and coordinating on next-generation technologies, including artificial intelligence.
“The United States is proud of our long and close alliance with Japan, and it’s time for a new age of U.S.–Japan relations to bring peace and prosperity to the Indo–Pacific,” Hughes said.
“Our two nations will continue to work together to ensure we deter threats in the region through our full range of military capabilities.”
Friday’s meeting will begin with a one-on-one conversation between Trump and Ishiba, followed by an expanded discussion with administration officials.
The meeting marks the first time Trump and Ishiba have come face to face and takes place amid a backdrop of increasing U.S. tariffs on foreign partners.
Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines have been shielded from Trump administration tariffs thus far. This may suggest a continuation of more normal relations with Washington’s allies in the Indo–Pacific.
Trump was close with the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe but has no relationship with Ishiba, who took office in October 2024.
One familiar face in the Japanese delegation will be Sunao Takao, Abe’s long-serving interpreter, who Trump once jokingly referred to as junior prime minister. Tokyo has taken the unusual step of deploying Takao, now a senior foreign ministry bureaucrat, to interpret for Ishiba in the hope of rekindling that rapport.
To that end, the fact that Japan is only the second nation after Israel to have its head of government received by Trump in Washington is likely a positive sign for Tokyo.
“There’s two foreign heads of state that have been received in the Oval Office,” said former U.S. ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel. “That’s Bibi Netanyahu of Israel, and Japan. So that’s a good thing, and that’s a good sign.”
Tokyo and Washington share a hawkish outlook toward the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the issue of nuclearization in North Korea. As such, Trump and Ishiba are expected to formally agree to language touting their alliance and common views on Indo–Pacific security stemming from the CCP’s aggression toward Taiwan.
The National Security Council’s director for Asia, Ivan Kanapathy, told reporters that he expects to see continued efforts to bolster the trilateral alliance between the United States, Japan, and South Korea. This alliance is a key piece in the U.S. strategy for securing the Indo–Pacific against threats from both the CCP and North Korea.
“The Trump administration continues to support trilateral efforts and some of the working groups that have come out from under those over the last few years,” Kanapathy said, adding that any adjustments would be made to the specific focus of the trilateral forum.
