Trump has consistently called China the greatest economic and military threat to the United States, but like former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden before him, other regions have taken precedence, particularly the Middle East amid the Israel–Hamas war.

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Days after Trump upended years of U.S. foreign policy by proposing an American occupation of the Gaza Strip, Ishiba spent hours with the president, afterward announcing Japan would double its defense spending by 2027 and that Nippon Steel would invest in U.S. Steel, instead of buying it.

“I’m pleased to say that this week my administration approved nearly $1 billion in foreign military sales to Tokyo,” Trump told reporters Friday during the pair’s joint press conference.

Aside from the policy announcements, Friday’s meeting was an opportunity for the two men to introduce themselves to each other. While Trump had a warm relationship with the late Shinzo Abe, Ishiba has only been Japan’s prime minister since October 2024.

“On television, he is frightening and he has a very strong personality,” Ishiba told reporters through translators when asked about his first impression. “But when I met with him in person, actually, he was very sincere and powerful.”

The White House previewed that the men would discuss “realistic” military exercises, cybersecurity capabilities, and foreign investment in the U.S. from Japan, including in manufacturing and energy, in addition to business opportunities regarding critical technologies, such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

During his first administration, Trump expressed concerns related to Japan’s defense spending as a percentage of its gross domestic product, particularly considering the U.S. has its largest permanent overseas military presence, with 50,000 service members stationed there. Negotiations for a new deal are poised to start next year, and Trump has used the threats of tariffs before.

“There’s a partnership that’s long-standing, and the president is committed to, always committed to the security of the United States and our allies,” one senior administration official told the Washington Examiner of Japan’s defense spending.

The talks related to the military exercises come as China continues to escalate its military posturing in the Indo-Pacific region and the U.S. seeks to counter national security and economic threats from the social media app TikTok, the fast development China’s DeepSeek AI technology, and the spread of the lethal synthetic drug fentanyl.

In 2023, a Chinese warship nearly collided with a U.S. destroyer conducting a routine mission in the Taiwan Strait, which Beijing contended was a deliberate provocation on the part of the U.S.

Separate incidents the following year resulted in injuries to both Filipino and American sailors and significant damage to a fleet of commercial Filipino vessels.

The U.S. and Japan undertook two biennial, joint training exercises, “Keen Edge” and “Keen Sword” in February and November 2024, respectively.

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Trump has tried to leverage the U.S.’s economic strength against China through tariffs, with an additional 10% levy added this month, though Chinese President Xi Jinping has simply responded in kind.

Trump told House Republicans last month he was contemplating additional duties on pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and steel. On Friday, Trump said it was a possibility and teased a reciprocal tariff imposition coming next week as opposed to the idea of a universal flat tariff.

“The U.S. would match tariffs to levels charged by each country,” he said. “I think that’s the only fair way to do it. That way, nobody’s hurt. They charge us. We charge them.”

Although both Trump and Biden opposed Nippon Steel purchasing U.S. Steel for nearly $15 billion last year, Trump welcomed the prospect of Nippon Steel investing it in, having met with U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt at the White House on Thursday.

“They’ve agreed to invest heavily in U.S. Steel as opposed to own it, and that sounds very exciting,” he said.

Biden blocked Nippon’s acquisition of U.S. Steel in his final days in office after a recommendation from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. Trump said he would mediate the final terms of the foreign investment into the steel company headquartered in swing-state Pennsylvania with another meeting next week.

The White House was additionally asked Friday for an update on Trump’s policy on North Korea, with a government official saying the president “is committed to the complete denuclearization of North Korea.”

During the press conference, Trump provided more details, including the U.S. “will have relations with North Korea.”

“We had a good relationship, and I think it’s a very big asset for everybody that I do have a lot with them,” he said. “I get along with them, and they get along with me, and that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. And I can tell you that Japan likes the idea because their relationship is not very good with them.”

Trump and Ishiba sat down for a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office and a working lunch Friday morning in the Cabinet Room before taking questions from reporters during the press conference in the East Room in the afternoon, the president’s second joint press conference of the week. During that first press conference, he declared that the U.S. would “take over” Gaza’s reconstruction alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening.

At the time, Trump demonstrated his amenableness to deploying U.S. troops to Gaza as a part of that effort, but White House officials attempted to walk back his comments later in the week.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during her Wednesday briefing that, regardless of Trump’s commitment the night before to a “long-term” occupation, the president will not “force the United States to be entangled in conflicts abroad.”