TOKYO - US President Donald Trump lavished praise on Japan’s first female leader Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Oct 28, welcoming her pledge to accelerate a military buildup and signing deals on trade and critical minerals.

Ms Takaichi, a protegee of Mr Trump’s late friend and golfing buddy Japanese leader Shinzo Abe, applauded the President’s push to resolve global conflicts and said she would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to Mr Trump’s spokeswoman, Ms Karoline Leavitt.

Both governments released a list of projects in the areas of energy, artificial intelligence and critical minerals in which Japanese companies are eyeing investments of up to US$400 billion (S$518.02 billion).

Tokyo pledged to provide US$550 billion of strategic US investments, loans and guarantees earlier in 2025 as part of a deal to win reprieve from Mr Trump’s punishing import tariffs.

Those gestures may temper any Mr Trump demands for Tokyo to spend more on defending islands from an increasingly assertive China, which Ms Takaichi sought to head off by pledging last week to fast-track plans to increase defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP.

“Everything I know from Shinzo and others, you will be one of the great prime ministers. I’d also like to congratulate you on being the first woman prime minister. It’s a big deal,” Mr Trump told Ms Takaichi as the pair sat down for discussions with their delegations at Tokyo’s Akasaka Palace.

“I’d also like to congratulate you on being the first woman prime minister. It’s a big deal,” Mr Trump added.

Ms Takaichi repeatedly referenced Mr Abe’s affection for Mr Trump and

, a golf bag signed by Japanese major winner Hideki Matsuyama and a gold-leaf golf ball, according to photos posted on X by Mr Trump’s assistant Margo Martin.

Mr Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, was the first foreign leader to meet Mr Trump after his 2016 election victory and the pair went on to forge a close bond over several rounds of golf in the United States and Japan.

Over a lunch of US rice and beef, and vegetables from Ms Takaichi’s hometown of Nara, the Japanese leader presented Mr Trump with a map of major investments Japanese firms have made in the United States since his last visit in 2009.

Japanese companies on the list of possible future investors included Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Softbank, Hitachi, Murata Manufacturing and Panasonic, among others.

Japanese carmaker Toyota would also open auto plants in the United States to the tune of US$10 billion, Mr Trump said.

Deal on critical minerals signed

Mr Trump also praised Japan’s efforts to purchase more US defence equipment, while Ms Takaichi said Mr Trump’s role in

, and Israel and Palestinian militants, were “unprecedented” achievements.

The leaders

and rare earths, as their nations seek to reduce China’s dominance of some areas of key electronic components.

After lunch, Mr Trump met with relatives of people abducted by North Korea in the 1960s and 1970s to train its spies and their relatives.

While some were later repatriated, Japan continues to press Pyongyang for a full accounting of all the abductees and the return of any who remain alive, a cause championed by Mr Abe.

“The United States is with them all the way,” Mr Trump, who has repeatedly said he is open to meeting North Korea’s reclusive leader Kim Jong Un during his Asia visit, told reporters after greeting the families.

The US leader began his five-day visit to Asia in Malaysia on Oct 26 before travelling to Japan late on Oct 27 and heading straight to the Imperial Palace for a meeting with Japanese Emperor Naruhito.

He hopes to cap off his trip, his longest overseas journey since returning to the White House in January, by agreeing a trade war truce with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea on Oct 30.

Visit US naval base

Ms Takaichi’s efforts to invoke Mr Abe’s legacy to forge a bond with Mr Trump could help bolster her weak political position at home and help her navigate Mr Trump’s at times erratic decision-making, analysts said.

Though she has seen a surge in public support since becoming prime minister, her coalition government is two votes shy of a majority in Parliament’s Lower House.

Mr Trump and Ms Takaichi later flew on his presidential helicopter to the US aircraft carrier George Washington, docked at the Yokosuka naval base near Tokyo.

There Mr Trump delivered an hour-long speech that ranged from topics such as the US southern border and inflation to American football and the possibility of deploying “more than the national guard” to “troubled” US cities.

Flanked by two fighter jets, Mr Trump ushered Ms Takaichi up on stage in front of 6,000 US sailors.

“This women is a winner,” he said, before Ms Takaichi thanked the forces for helping defend the country and the region. Japan hosts the largest concentration of US military power abroad.

Delivery would begin this week on Japan’s long-awaited order of US missiles for F-35 fighter jets, Mr Trump added.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth is due to hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi on Oct 29.

Mr Trump will then meet business leaders in Tokyo, before travelling on Oct 28 to South Korea, where he will meet President Lee Jae Myung ahead of his Oct 30 summit with Mr Xi. REUTERS