Japan PM to meet Trump on Feb 6 to 8 US trip
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba attends a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Dec 24, 2024. (File photo: Pool via AFP/Yuichi Yamazaki)
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TOKYO: Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will meet President Donald Trump on a visit to the United States this week, top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Tuesday (Feb 4).
"If circumstances permit, he will visit the US from Feb 6 to 8 and hold (his) first face-to-face Japan-US summit meeting with President Trump in Washington DC," Hayashi said.
"Through this visit, we hope to build a strong relationship of trust with the new US administration and take the US-Japan alliance to new heights," he added.
The Nikkei business daily reported that Ishiba wants to discuss increasing imports of US shale gas with Trump - chiming with the president's pledge to "drill, baby, drill".
Ishiba is also expected to discuss a bid by Nippon Steel to buy US Steel blocked by previous president Joe Biden, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Citing national security concerns, Biden blocked Nippon Steel's US$14.9 billion acquisition of US Steel last month, a highly unusual move that irked officials in Tokyo.
