WASHINGTON – The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday congratulated Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on her ruling party’s “big victory” in a general election.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on a Fox News program that Trump has a “great relationship” with Takaichi and “when Japan is strong, the U.S. is strong in Asia.”
Bessent, a key figure in the administration, welcomed her ruling coalition winning a two-thirds majority in Japan’s more powerful House of Representatives, calling it a “big victory.”
Describing the victory as an “impressive win,” U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass said on social media that the administration looks forward to building on Trump’s “reinvigoration of the U.S.-Japan partnership by continuing to deepen cooperation between our two dynamic nations.”
Trump gave his full endorsement to Takaichi, who became Japan’s first female prime minister in October, days ahead of Sunday’s election and said he would welcome her to the White House on March 19.
“Prime Minister Takaichi is someone who deserves powerful recognition for the job she and her Coalition are doing and, therefore, as President of the United States of America, it is my Honor to give a Complete and Total Endorsement of her, and what her highly respected Coalition is representing,” Trump said in a social media post on Thursday.
Takaichi’s trip to Washington, her first since becoming prime minister, will precede Trump’s planned April visit to China, which for months has been taking a hard-line stance over her remarks about a potential Taiwan Strait crisis.
AloJapan.com