Japan PM Ishiba aims to establish trust with Trump

Tokyo (Jiji Press) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Tuesday that he aims to build a relationship of trust with Donald Trump, who has been sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.

“I’d like to have sincere discussions (with the president) mainly on ways to make use of bilateral ties for world peace and the economy,” Ishiba told reporters after Trump took the oath of office Monday.

Ishiba said he thinks the date for a summit with Trump will be decided without much time, adding that the decision will be made so as not to affect deliberations in the Diet, Japan’s parliament.

Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, who attended Trump’s inauguration in Washington, is working to pave the way for realizing the summit, the prime minister said. The Ishiba-Trump talks are expected to be held in early February at the soonest.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ishiba congratulated Trump on his inauguration in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

“I want to work together with President Trump to strengthen the Japan-U.S. cooperative relationship and jointly pursue the realization of a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” the prime minister said.

“The new administration finally starts,” Iwaya told reporters in Washington after attending the inauguration.

“We want to raise the Japan-U.S. relationship to a higher level,” he said, referring to meetings being arranged between the Japanese and U.S. foreign ministers and among the foreign ministers of the Quad countries of Japan, the United States, Australia and India.

On an executive order signed by Trump on Monday that the United States will withdraw again from the Paris Agreement, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said in a press conference that the U.S. engagement in the international framework to combat climate change remains important.

Regarding Trump’s policy of strengthening tariffs, Hayashi said, “We will respond appropriately after fully examining the specific content and impact of measures (on tariffs).”

Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said in a statement that he hopes to further deepen the Japan-U. S. alliance and contribute to the peace and prosperity of the international community together with Trump.