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TOKYO: President Donald Trump began one of his busiest days of his Asia trip on Tuesday by warmly greeting the new Japanese prime minister, with plans to later speak to US troops aboard an aircraft carrier and mingle with business leaders.
Although Trump is visiting one of America’s most steadfast allies in Asia, there’s no shortage of uncertainty while he’s there. Sanae Takaichi, who became the country’s first female prime minister only days ago, must solidify her relationship with Trump while defending her country’s economic interests. Trump is trying to nail down $550 billion in Japanese investment as part of a trade deal that would reduce US tariffs.
As Trump and Takaichi met on Tuesday, they shook hands and he paid her a compliment: “That’s a very strong handshake.”
In return, Takaichi talked about watching the third game of the US World Series before the event. She said Japan would give Washington 250 cherry trees next year to honor America’s 250th anniversary, as well as fireworks from Akita Prefecture for July 4 celebrations.
She used her early remarks to mention former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, her archconservative mentor who forged a strong bond with Trump during his first term through their shared interest of golf.
“As a matter of fact, Prime Minister Abe often told me about your dynamic diplomacy,” she said.
Trump called her role as Japan’s first woman prime minister as a “big deal,” putting an emphasis on the US commitment to Japan. While the president in the past has publicly scolded his foreign counterparts, he had nothing but praise for Tackaichi.
“Anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there,” Trump said. “We are an ally at the strongest level.”
Takaichi is primed for a charm offensive, including a potential purchase of Ford F-150 trucks. Reporters arriving for the event were hustled past a gold-hued Ford F-150 as well as what appeared to be white American-made Toyota vehicles parked outside the Akasaka Palace, which is Tokyo’s guest house for visiting foreign leaders.
Trump has often complained that Japan doesn’t buy American vehicles, which are often too wide to be practical on narrow Japanese streets.
Both leaders signed the implementation of an agreement for the “golden age” of their nations’ alliance. The content of the agreement was unclear, but when held up after signing the document ran to less than one-page.
Trump and Takaichi then signed a second agreement, this one laying out a US-Japan framework for securing the supply of critical minerals and rare earths.
Although Trump has focused his foreign policy toward Asia around tariffs and trade, he’s also speaking aboard the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier docked at an American naval base near Tokyo.
Trump arrived in Tokyo on Monday, when he met with the emperor in a ceremonial visit. He was previously in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he participated in the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The gathering was an opportunity for Trump to celebrate an expanded ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, which skirmished along their disputed border earlier this year. Trump had pressured them to stop fighting by threatening to withhold trade agreements.
There were also signs that tensions between the US and China were cooling ahead of a planned meeting between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which is expected to take place in South Korea later this week. Top negotiators from each country said a trade deal was coming together, which could prevent a potentially damaging confrontation between the world’s two largest economies.
Details were scarce, and it was unclear how much any agreement would resolve long-standing issues, or if it would return the relationship to the status quo before recent confrontations. China has restructured the export of rare earth elements that are critical for high-tech manufacturing, and Trump responded by threatening tariffs that even he admits would be unsustainable.
Trump is scheduled to leave Wednesday for South Korea, which is hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

GREENBELT, Md.: A federal judge in Maryland on Monday sought assurances that the government will not deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia before she has lifted an injunction barring his removal from the US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a notice late last week of their plan to deport him to the West African nation of Liberia as early as Friday. It’s the latest in a series of African countries the agency has designated as possible destinations for the Salvadoran national.
Abrego Garcia has an American wife and child and has lived in Maryland for years, but he immigrated to the US illegally as a teenager. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him protection from being deported back to El Salvador, where he faces a “well-founded fear” of violence from a gang that targeted his family. Earlier this year, his mistaken deportation to El Salvador, where he was held in a notoriously brutal prison despite having no criminal record, galvanized opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Facing mounting public pressure and a court order, the Trump administration brought him back to the US in June.
During a status conference on Monday, US District Judge Paula Xinis questioned why the government does not simply deport Abrego Garcia to Costa Rica — a country he has said he is willing to go to because the government has promised he would welcomed as a legal immigrant and not re-deported to El Salvador.
“Any insight you can shed on why we’re continuing this hearing when you could deport him to a third country tomorrow?” Xinis asked government attorneys. She noted that both the government and Abrego Garcia were “about to burn significant resources” in fighting over whether he can legally be deported to Liberia.
Government attorneys, including Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew C. Ensign and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Guynn, didn’t immediately have an answer but suggested it could be part of an upcoming court filing.
In the meantime, the attorneys said ICE is preparing to interview Abrego Garcia after he filed an official notice expressing fear of deportation to Liberia. His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, told the judge they have received some confidential documents pertaining to assurances from the Liberian government about how Abrego Garcia would be treated there. However, they are not satisfied by what they have received. He hinted that the Liberian government has only agreed to take Abrego Garcia for a limited time.
The administration’s deportation agreements with so-called third countries have been contested in court by advocacy groups, who have argued that they violate due process rights and that immigrants are being sent to countries with long histories of human rights violations. But in June, a divided Supreme Court allowed the swift removal of immigrants to countries other than their homelands and with minimal notice.
When Abrego Garcia was returned to the US in June, he was charged in Tennessee with human smuggling. He has pleaded not guilty and asked the judge to dismiss that case. A hearing on the motion to dismiss is set for next week, and Xinis noted the fact that the government seems ready to deport him just prior to that, saying his removal would be the end of the criminal case.
“It doesn’t pass the sniff test that there hasn’t been some coordination” Xinis said, noting that the hearing in the criminal case was “common knowledge.”
“If I don’t lift the injunction, you are abiding by it, and he’s not going to be removed? Is that right?” she asked the government attorneys. They agreed.
In a separate action in immigration court, Abrego Garcia has applied for asylum in the US.