The US president has pledged to support Sanae Takaichi during his trip to Tokyo<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump has promised sweeping support for Japan and its new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, amid the intensifying rivalry with China in the Indo-Pacific.
\nTrump hailed Japan as \u201can ally at the strongest level\u201d during his visit to Tokyo on Tuesday, noting that the longtime US ally was set to purchase \u201ca large amount of new military equipment\u201d and expressing confidence that bilateral ties would become \u201cstronger than ever before.\u201d
\n\u201cI want to just let you know \u2013 any time you have any question, any doubt, anything you want, any favors you need, anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there,\u201d Trump said.
\nTakaichi, a hardline conservative who assumed office last week, thanked Trump for mediating a dispute between Thailand and Cambodia and for his \u201cunwavering commitment to peace and stability\u201d in the region.<\/p>\n
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The leaders also signed a cooperation agreement on rare-earth and critical minerals, as well as a pledge to work toward a \u201cnew golden age\u201d of the US-Japan alliance. Trump signed a similar deal with Australia earlier this month, aimed at countering China\u2019s dominance in the rare-earth market.
\nJapan has hosted American troops since the end of World War II and remains one of the largest buyers of US weapons. In recent years, Tokyo has increased its defense budget and begun arming its navy with long-range cruise missiles.
\nThe US, Japan, and South Korea regularly conduct joint naval drills, drawing condemnation from China and North Korea, who view such maneuvers as provocative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The US president has pledged to support Sanae Takaichi during his trip to Tokyo US President Donald Trump has promised sweeping support for Japan and its new prime minister, Sanae…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t