(NEW YORK) — Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s meeting Tuesday in Tokyo with U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major test for the new leader.
She’s a hardline conservative and the first woman to serve as prime minister of Japan. Takaichi is a protégé of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and will likely lean into her ties with him to build rapport and chemistry with Trump. Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, had a famously close relationship with Trump.
Geopolitical experts, including Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, note that Takaichi is politically aligned with Trump on key issues, including immigration and defense. Bremmer even expects her meeting with Trump to go “exceptionally well” — even predicting that she will endorse Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
For Takaichi, trade will be front and center. Japan managed to strike a lower tariff rate than other countries at 15 percent. But in return it has pledged to invest $550 billion in the U.S. That’s a staggering amount, equal to more than one-tenth of Japan’s economy.
Under the agreement, the U.S. has broad discretion over how those funds are allocated, raising concerns in Tokyo about how and where that money will ultimately be used.
Takaichi is also expected to raise concerns about China’s expanding military and economic influence in Asia while seeking Trump to reaffirm the U.S.’s commitment to its economic and military alliance with Japan.
Takaichi, 64, defeated four other candidates to succeed outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who resigned in September after poor election results, as leader of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). During a runoff in an intraparty vote by the LDP, Takaichi won 185 votes, beating Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who received 156 votes.
She is the first first woman to head the party, which has dominated Japanese politics since its founding in 1955.
She was elected prime minister by Japan’s parliament last week.
First elected to parliament in 1993, Takaichi has served as minister of economic security, internal affairs and gender equality.
She has cited former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as an inspiration.
Takaichi played drums in a heavy metal band in college and lists scuba diving, playing musical instruments, martial arts and watching baseball as hobbies.
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
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