Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday night, following an in-person summit in New York on Sept. 22, marking her second round of summit diplomacy with Trump in about a week.
Takaichi said on social media platform X that she held the Japan-U.S. summit with Trump in New York on Sept. 22 at around 1 p.m. local time, while she was there to attend the U.N. General Assembly. She said it was her fourth meeting with Trump since the Group of Seven summit in Evian, France, in June, and that the two held substantive talks in a very open and cordial atmosphere on cooperation across a wide range of fields and on regional affairs.
During that meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed cooperation on economic security to secure a competitive edge in technology and bolster resilience in areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors and critical minerals, agreeing to further strengthen such cooperation going forward. They also reaffirmed the importance of steadily implementing the Japan-U.S. tariff agreement and agreed to advance related cooperation.
The two leaders also had candid exchanges on issues including China and North Korea, Takaichi said. She said she again stressed the importance of an immediate resolution to the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea, an issue she has personally championed, and received Trump’s full support. The two also discussed their views on the International Criminal Court, she added.
Four days later, on Saturday night, the two held a phone conversation. Takaichi said on X that the call took place starting at 9 p.m. and came shortly after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States, during which Trump gave her a detailed briefing on the outcome of the recent U.S.-China summit. Building on that briefing, the two leaders exchanged views focused on various issues surrounding China, including the economy and security, such as economic security, and reaffirmed their coordination as allies.
Takaichi noted that the call came a week after the New York summit, saying that holding two Japan-U.S. summit meetings within a single week demonstrates the strength of the bilateral alliance. She said Japan and the United States are now each other’s most trusted ally and that the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to jointly contribute to peace and stability in the region and the world. “I will work closely with President Trump to elevate our unwavering Japan-U.S. alliance to even greater heights,” she said.
Saturday’s call was the second between the two leaders since the U.S.-China summit held in Beijing on Sept. 14, with the Japanese government having worked to coordinate closely with Washington to receive an early briefing on the outcome of that meeting. During his talks with Xi, Trump made remarks suggesting the United States and China were allies during World War II, prompting some unease in Tokyo over Washington’s intentions.
