Strengthening U.S.-Japan Relations: Prime Minister Ishiba Meets with President Trump

Tomoko Hosaka Mullaney
Executive Director, U.S.-Japan Business Council

Published

February 13, 2025

A Successful First Meeting

On February 7, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba achieved a top-priority Japanese foreign policy goal in meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump quickly after the U.S. inauguration. He left Washington having established a solid interpersonal rapport with Trump and laid the groundwork for a productive relationship early in the new U.S. administration. Both sides appear pleased with the meeting’s success in reaffirming the importance of the U.S.-Japan relationship under new leadership. This puts Japan in a better position to navigate any potential bilateral frictions that may arise.

While the three-page joint statement was relatively short, it was substantive enough to cover several critical areas of bilateral cooperation:

Defense and security
Investment in critical areas like energy and emerging technologies
Geopolitical challenges like economic and military coercion by China as well as North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons.

In addition, out of the meeting emerged a new development in Nippon Steel’s bid to acquire U.S. Steel. President Trump said that he welcomed the Japanese company to “invest heavily” in U.S. Steel rather than purchase it. The details of a potentially revised deal remain to be seen, but Nippon Steel executives traveled to Washington, DC this week for talks with the White House.

Key Accomplishments for Ishiba

Ishiba’s greatest success was avoiding an immediate push from Trump in areas where Japan would not be able or willing to meet his demands, namely on defense spending and eliminating the trade deficit. Much to the relief of the private sector, Ishiba apparently kept Japan-specific tariffs off the table by focusing on Japan’s significant contributions to the U.S. economy through investment and job creation. Ishiba will have to continue to navigate Trump’s eagerness to eliminate the U.S. trade deficit with Japan and the administration’s broader tariffs push, including recently announced tariff increases on steel and aluminum, and the ‘reciprocal’ tariffs Trump mentioned during his meeting with Ishiba. The Trump administration may also be inclined to pursue bilateral or sector-specific deals with Japan, building on the two limited-scope agreements on agricultural and industrial goods and digital trade rules negotiated during President Trump’s first term in office.

The leaders touched on relatively few specific industries in their discussions and the accompanying joint statement. They highlighted cooperation on advanced technologies like semiconductors, AI, and quantum computing, suggesting these will continue to be a high-level priority under their leadership. Ishiba’s promise to increase purchases of U.S.-produced liquefied natural gas, ethanol and ammonia was mutually beneficial, addressing the Trump administration’s aim to increase U.S. energy exports while strengthening Japan’s energy security.

Looking Ahead

Next steps for bilateral and public-private cooperation in these and other areas like finance and life sciences remain to be seen. Supply chain resiliency, which was one of the other key areas for cooperation emphasized in the joint statement, could also provide an opportunity for multiple industries–including healthcare, energy, and technology–to work with the government.

The joint statement contains pointed language regarding “travel systems” that could impact the travel, tourism, and transportation sectors as the Trump administration expands its focus on combating illegal immigration. Companies in these industries should monitor official dialogues on this issue and consider how their business operations and customers may be impacted by greater regulatory scrutiny of travel.

The next opportunity for business input into bilateral dialogues will likely be a 2+2 meeting of the defense and foreign ministers in the first half of 2025. There are also opportunities for continued engagement between the trade and economic ministers. Companies should begin strategizing now ahead of any formal meeting announcements so they know what priorities to raise with alliance managers and how they would like to shape the bilateral agenda under the new administrations.