U.S. President Donald Trump departed for Tokyo on Monday for talks with Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, as part of an Asia tour focused on securing trade, investment, and defence commitments.
The visit marks Trump’s longest foreign trip since returning to office in January and follows a busy weekend in Malaysia, where he announced new trade agreements with Southeast Asian nations and brokered a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia.
His Asia tour will conclude in South Korea on Thursday with a planned summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Both sides are expected to push for progress on trade negotiations to prevent a resurgence of tariffs between the world’s two largest economies.
Trump is arriving in Japan fresh off a reported $550 billion investment pledge from Tokyo in exchange for relief from import tariffs. Prime Minister Takaichi Japan’s first female leader is expected to build on that agreement by committing to additional purchases of American products, including pickup trucks, soybeans, and natural gas.
“Just leaving Malaysia, a great and very vibrant country. Signed major Trade and Rare Earth Deals, and most importantly, signed the Peace Treaty between Thailand and Cambodia. NO WAR! Millions of lives saved,” Trump wrote on Truth Social before his departure.
Thousands of police officers have been deployed across Tokyo ahead of Trump’s arrival, following the arrest of an armed man near the U.S. embassy and amid planned anti-Trump protests in the capital.
Trump’s first engagement in Japan will be an imperial audience with Emperor Naruhito at the Imperial Palace his second such meeting since 2019, when he became the first foreign leader to meet the monarch after his ascension.
Formal talks with Prime Minister Takaichi are scheduled for Tuesday at the Akasaka Palace, where Trump met the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe six years ago. Takaichi, a close ally of Abe, has already expressed her intent to strengthen Japan’s alliance with the United States.
She is expected to brief Trump on her government’s plan to accelerate Japan’s largest military build-up since World War II, including raising defence spending to 2% of GDP. However, analysts say her limited parliamentary majority could restrict further increases.
“Some kind of statement on standing shoulder-to-shoulder together to deter and respond to attempts to change the status quo in the region by force or coercion would be useful,” said Kevin Maher, a Japan expert and former U.S. diplomat.
Trump is accompanied on the trip by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The meetings are expected to set the tone for Washington’s broader Indo-Pacific economic and security strategy ahead of his summit with Xi later this week.
