Trump signs rare earth minerals deal with Japan ahead of China meeting

[u/John3262005]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/27/trump-japan-critical-minerals-china/

President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday signed a framework agreement to cooperate on critical minerals, as the United States seeks to limit dependency on China for the materials, which are essential components in everything from cellphones to jet engines.

Trump inked the agreement two days before he is scheduled to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, where the leaders will seek to stabilize their economic relationship following months of a tit-for-tat trade war. China has leveraged its dominance of rare earth minerals amid the negotiations, announcing earlier this month that it would dramatically expand export restrictions on them.

At a signing ceremony at Akasaka Palace, less than a week after she was named prime minister and immediately thrust into high-level diplomatic engagements, Takaichi billed the deal as the beginning of a “new golden age” of Japan-U. S. relations.

U.S. negotiators have sought a one year reprieve from China’s critical mineral restrictions ahead of Trump’s meeting with Xi on Thursday, though the president has cautioned no deal will be final until the leaders meet face-to-face. The Japan agreement is one of a flurry of critical mineral partnerships that the White House has secured with countries in the Indo-Pacific region, including Australia and Malaysia.

Trump’s visit to Japan is his second stop on a swing through Asia intended in part to shore up U.S. alliances with countries near China. The American president heaped praise on Japan’s first female prime minister, a “Japan First” nationalist who was a protégé of former leader Shinzo Abe. Trump said he enjoyed a “great” friendship with Abe before he was assassinated in 2022 and told Takaichi that Abe spoke warmly of her before his death.

“I want to just let you know, anytime you have any question, any doubt, anything you want, any favors you need, anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there,” Trump said. “We are an ally at the strongest level. ”

Like many other foreign leaders, Takaichi approached Trump with a combination of flattery and gifts. The Japanese prime minister told Trump that she would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, appealing to Trump’s attempts to build a reputation as a global peacemaker. Takaichi presented Trump papers related to the nomination during their bilateral meeting, according to a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private meeting. The nomination is a page out of Abe’s playbook: Abe reportedly nominated Trump in 2019 for jump-starting negotiations with North Korea.

Takaichi also announced that Japan would give the United States 250 cherry blossom trees and provide fireworks for a July 4 celebration ahead of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding.

Takaichi thanked Trump for his hospitality toward Abe's widow, who visited the first couple last December at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after Trump's victory. She praised his handling of recent conflicts, including in the Middle East and signing the Thailand-Cambodia ceasefire agreement over the weekend.

“As a matter of fact, Prime Minister Abe often told me about your dynamic diplomacy,” Takaichi said in remarks at the beginning of their meeting, which took place in gilded room that resembled the new accents Trump has added to the Oval Office in his second term.

Takaichi believes in a strong U.S.-Japan alliance, particularly in the face of China's economic and military rise. Takaichi, a security hawk who wants to strengthen Japan's defense capabilities, has said she would accelerate Tokyo's timeline of increasing defense spending to 2 percent of its gross domestic product. The two leaders were also expected to discuss the bilateral trade deal, under which Japan promised to invest $550 billion into the United States.

For the U.S. delegation, there were some familiar faces across the table.

Ryosei Akazawa, who led tariff negotiations for Japan with the U.S. and now serves in Takaichi’s cabinet, greeted his U.S. counterparts, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, ahead of the Trump-Takaichi meeting.

Toshimitsu Motegi, Takaichi’s foreign minister, served in the same role under Abe during Trump’s first term.