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Donald Trump has endorsed Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ahead of Sunday’s general election in which her Liberal Democratic Party hopes to win an outright majority.
“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 wrote on Truth Social on Thursday.
“SHE WILL NOT LET THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN DOWN! Good luck on your very important Sunday Vote,” he added.
Japanese voters head to the polls on Sunday after Takaichi last month announced that she would dissolve parliament and hold a snap election with the shortest campaign since the end of the second world war. The LDP is hoping to win enough seats to form a government without Japan Innovation Party, its current coalition partner.
In a post accompanied by a photo of Trump and Takaichi together when he visited Japan in October, Trump said she had “already proven to be a strong, powerful, and wise Leader, and one that truly loves her Country”.
Trump added that he would welcome Takaichi at the White House on March 19. Japan has been keen for the prime minister to visit Washington to meet the president before his expected visit to China in April.
US presidents have historically refrained from commenting on foreign elections in advance of the vote or endorsing candidates. But Trump has frequently broken that tradition by offering support for conservative candidates in elections from Argentina and Honduras to Romania.
On Thursday Trump also endorsed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a separate post, calling him “a true friend, fighter, and WINNER”. Hungary is holding parliamentary elections in April.
In his endorsement of Takaichi, Trump said he was “extremely impressed” with her when they met in Japan in October, shortly after she became the first female prime minister in Japanese history.
The two leaders enjoyed a very strong rapport during the visit, which followed months of volatility in relations because of the tariffs Trump imposed on the most important US ally in the Indo-Pacific region.
“In addition to National Security, the United States and Japan have worked closely together on making a very substantial Trade Deal, one that strongly benefits both Countries,” Trump wrote on Thursday.
The endorsement comes two months after Japan became frustrated with the Trump administration’s light public support for Takaichi as she came under pressure from China over comments she made last year.
Beijing has engaged in a persistent campaign against her after she said in November that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would pose an “existential threat” to Japan that would provide the legal justification for it to deploy its military.
The Chinese consul general in Osaka suggested that Takaichi should be killed because of her comments, saying in a post on X that: “If a filthy neck sticks itself in uninvited, we will cut it off without a moment’s hesitation.”
Trump shocked Tokyo when, in an interview with Fox News, he answered a question about how he could view China as a friend given the consul general’s comments by saying: “A lot of our allies aren’t our friend”.
