U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday congratulated Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on her party's "landslide victory" in a general election and said it was his honor to endorse her days earlier.
Trump wrote on social media that it was Takaichi's "bold and wise" decision to call a snap election, adding, "I wish you Great Success in passing your Conservative, Peace Through Strength Agenda."
Hours after Japan's Liberal Democratic Party secured a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, winning the biggest number of seats in the country's postwar history, Trump said, "The wonderful people of Japan, who voted with such enthusiasm, will always have my strong support."
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."
Calling the LDP's victory an "impressive win," U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass said on social media that the Trump administration looks forward to building on the president'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 visit in April to China, which for months has been taking a hard-line stance over her remarks about a potential Taiwan Strait crisis.
Trump met with Takaichi in late October in Tokyo, during which they agreed to propel the progress the two allies have made on defense cooperation and the economic front.
In particular, Trump has repeatedly extolled Japan's commitment to invest heavily in the United States, which is included in Washington's trade deal with Tokyo reached last summer following his tariff threats.
Since her early days in office, Trump has lauded Takaichi as a protegee of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with whom the president had a close personal relationship during his first term.
On Sunday, the State Department also said the administration looks forward to advancing with Japan "U.S. security and economic priorities, as well as our shared interests, in the Indo-Pacific and globally."
A spokesperson for the department said the U.S.-Japan alliance is "the cornerstone of peace, security and prosperity" in the region and "has never been stronger."
© KYODO
15 Comments
oldman_13
Hilarious, Trump's the only one congratulating her.
Obviously Xi is never going to congratulate her on anything (Xi has congratulated prior PM's prior to her).
Jay
It's fascinating that the world's people are turning their back on Left-wing globalist politics after more than a century of devastating failures. Japan, the US, an increasingly large growing number of European countries, New Zealand, and more than likely the UK and Australia at their next elections, have said, emphatically "Not Left." The global wave of the border-erasing, family-eroding politics seems to be coming to an end, which is great news for people that have long wished to reclaim their sovereignty, identity, and sanity.
itsonlyrocknroll
U.S. President Donald Trump could congratulate Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on her party's "landslide victory" with a trade deal that reduces tarrifs, at the same time Sanae Takaichi could respond allowing temp relaxation of rice imports.
Seawolf
You know things look bad when Trump gratulates the winner. Welcome to "Abe Reborn" politics, lucky if your salary is in $ and you got some stocks, unlucky when you're just an average person with salary in ¥en :-(
Aoi Azuuri
Both put pressure on TV stations to silence criticism.
Jtsnose
Congratulations to Takaichi sama (& LDP) !
BeerDeliveryGuy
You obviously don’t watch Japanese TV, as other than TV Tokyo, all the other channels, Asahi, Fuji, TBS, NHK, are extremely leftist.
Blacklabel
Yep Trump would know all about what it feels like to have a landslide win!
congratulations, now let’s work together to make both our nations prosperous.
lincolnman
ROFL...the World's Greatest Loser....his only "win"....
The best way to make Japan prosperous is to keep the "Bankruptcy King" at arms length until he is tossed out in misery and humiliation in 2028...
browny1
Really?
Asahi is Left Leaning.
Fuji is part of Fujisankei/Sankei shimbun group, definitely Right Wing.
TBS is Center Left at the most
NHK is Center with a touch to the left. Their problem is they rarely ruffle the feathers of the govt which sees them often as lame or fence-sitting.
So all are hardly extremely leftist. That's just an opinion, your feelings.
The action to monitor over this year and beyond is how much pressure will be applied to networks by the incumbent govt. Takaichi has been known to talk down the press.
Japan's current World Press Freedom ranking sits at number 66 - abysmally low for a leading modern world democracy.
Perhaps Takaichi will initiate a change - but I'm not holding my breath.
Pukey2
Congratulations. You deserve the leader you vote for.
Pukey2
Only stating the truth. Down vote me!
carp_boya
lol. There have been 60 U.S. presidential elections. Trump’s 2024 electoral vote margin ranks 44th, and his popular vote margin ranks 50th. That’s not what I’d call a landslide.
Agent_Neo
You don't get it. The Japanese media itself is almost entirely left-leaning.
Asahi, Mainichi, and Chunichi are heavily left-leaning. Nikkei is slightly left-leaning.
Yomiuri and Sankei are slightly right-leaning. Local newspapers are mostly left-leaning.
Overseas, it's impossible to own both a television station and a newspaper, but in Japan it is.
TV Asahi and TBS, which are owned by the Asahi and Mainichi groups, are obviously far-left. Fuji TV is also so left-leaning that it has sparked protests from the public.
Even NHK has hired a large number of Chinese and Koreans, and now broadcasts programs claiming that the Senkaku Islands are Chinese territory. NHK is constantly criticized in the Diet, and the Party to Protect the People from NHK even won seats.
Is Trump the only one celebrating? Congratulations from various countries are reaching Japan.
French President Macron posted a congratulatory message in Japanese.
Italian Prime Minister Meloni also expressed his wishes, saying, "I wish my good friend Sanae and the new Japanese parliament all the best."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated, "Today, we all need strong leadership to restore stability, predictability, and peace to the world."
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the victory, calling it a "groundbreaking victory."
The President of Taiwan posted his "heartfelt congratulations" in Japanese, saying of Prime Minister Takaichi, "This demonstrates the trust and expectations of voters."
Agent_Neo
Japan is not isolated in the international community like China.
The countries that support China are all notorious in the international community.