Trump meets with the Prime Minister of Japan

President Donald Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House with whom he discussed key issues including the trade deficit between the two countries, security in the Asia-Pacific region and the acquisition of steelmaker United States Steel.

As a result of the official visit, the president assured that both countries will work to cut the trade deficit that Washington maintains with Tokyo to "even out," noting that this will be one of his priorities in the bilateral relationship:

"We want to work on the deficit. We have about a $100 billion deficit with Japan, which doesn't surprise me, because they're very good negotiators, it has to be said, but we want to address that and bring it down to full equality. To me, it has to be equitable."

They will fight against "Chinese economic aggression"

At a joint press conference in Washington, the Republican also revealed that Japan will import US natural gas "in record quantities" and assured that both countries will counter what he called "Chinese economic aggression," and the Japanese leader made clear that both governments are committed to global stability. "We are determined to work side by side for peace in the world," he said.

On the other hand, Ishiba revealed that his country's investment in the US will amount to 1 trillion dollars and stressed the importance of this underlining that his country is the leading foreign investor in the nation. In this sense, he announced that companies such as Toyota, Isuzu and the conglomerate SoftBank Group plan to expand their investments in US territory.

Security and the purchase of US Steel

Former President Joe Biden once blocked Nippon Steel's purchase of US Steel, and Trump expressed his desire for the steelmaker to remain under US control. On Thursday, the Republican met at the White House with the company's CEO to discuss the company's future.

On the security front, the meeting also touched on geopolitical challenges in the region, such as tensions with China and the threat from North Korea. Japan, which hosts about 54,000 US troops, has expressed concern about Beijing's growing aggressiveness in the Indo-Pacific and the risk of an invasion of Taiwan.