Mr. Trump greeted Mr. Aso at Trump Tower, one of the real estate mogul’s residences in New York. Trump is now on trial in the city on charges of falsifying business documents to cover up an affair with an adult movie star.
“He’s a very well-respected person in Japan and abroad, someone I like and know,” Trump said of Aso at the start of the meeting, in a video his aides posted on social media. Trump added that the two like each other and will talk “about Japan and the United States and a lot of other things.”
When he’s not in court, Trump talks to foreign officials and criticizes the 2020 campaign. the policies of President Joe Biden, who overthrew him. In recent weeks, the likely future Republican presidential nominee has met with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
A close ally of slain former prime minister Shinzo Abe, Aso is still considered a heavyweight in Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party. As President of the United States, Mr. Trump played golf with Sh. Abe, at the time, called him “a good friend.”
On Tuesday, Trump did not directly mention his meeting with Aso, but reacted angrily to the yen-dollar exchange rate, which recently hit a 34-year high against the Japanese currency. “It sounds good to stupid people, but it’s a disaster for our manufacturers and others,” he said on Truth Social.
The Japanese government played down Wednesday’s meeting between the two, with government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi saying it was a meeting with “one of the lawmakers” and saying they would not comment on “activities in which the government is not involved.” When asked if a member of the Japanese cabinet could meet with Mr. Trump, the representative replied that “at the moment” there are no such plans.
This month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with Mr. Biden in Washington. The two leaders announced plans to restructure the US military command in Japan to make US and Japanese forces more flexible in the event of threats such as a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
Japan, long a pacifist, has doubled military spending and is pursuing a 2022 nuclear deal. announced security reform, including the acquisition of counter-strike capabilities. Mr. Hayashi was asked on Wednesday about concerns that the Japan-U.S. alliance could be shaken if Mr. Trump wins the election in November. He responded that a “strong” alliance has broad bipartisan support in the United States.
