TOKYO (Kyodo) — Japan and the United States are arranging for U.S. President Donald Trump to visit Japan in late October before an economic forum in South Korea, government sources said Thursday, marking his first trip to the country since returning to the White House in January.
While in Japan, Trump is expected to meet the successor to outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership contest is scheduled for Oct. 4, and a vote to choose the next prime minister is seen as likely to be held in parliament in mid-October or later.
The visit is likely to be an early chance for the new prime minister to reaffirm the importance of Tokyo’s alliance with Washington, its closest security partner. The leaders may also discuss Japanese investment in the United States, which Tokyo vowed to boost as part of its trade deal signed in September.
In early September, Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s top tariff negotiator, said he had delivered a letter from Ishiba inviting Trump to visit.
Trump’s visit to Japan is being arranged to take place before he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, slated for two days in South Korea beginning Oct. 31, the sources said.
On Friday, Trump said he has agreed to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit.
At a press conference on Thursday, top government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi refrained from commenting on Trump’s possible visit to Japan, saying, “Nothing has been decided at this point.”
The chief Cabinet secretary, one of the five candidates in the LDP race, added that the “importance of the Japan-U.S. alliance, which forms the foundation of Japan’s foreign and security policy, will remain unchanged going forward.”
Ishiba and Trump briefly met in New York on Tuesday at a reception for world leaders during the U.N. General Assembly. Ishiba conveyed to Trump that their countries’ alliance will continue to be important for global peace and prosperity, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.
Ishiba, who took office in October last year, previously held face-to-face talks with Trump in Washington in February and in Canada in June on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit. He announced in early September that he will step down to take responsibility for the LDP’s setback in July’s House of Councillors election.
Trump visited Japan twice in his previous term as president. He was hosted as a state guest in May 2019 and came again the following June for the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Osaka.
