BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump Takes Question After Question During Presser With Japan's Prime Minister

[Applause] thank you very [Applause] much thank you very much it's a great honor to be with the Prime Minister we had a picture taken a little while ago and it was so nice I thought I'd present it to you on stage and here is the picture I wish I was as handsome as him but I'm not [Applause] okay thank you [Applause] oh remember that day thank you very much everybody appreciate it I'm delighted to welcome Japanese prime minister isaba Shigeru to the White House for the first time and prime minister it's an honor to have

you with us a great honor Japan is a great country thank you very much Japan is strong and proud it's a nation that is home to one of the great civilizations in the history of the world for nearly 80 years the American Japanese people have enjoyed a friendship like few others we've had a great friendship across the vast ocean and found ourselves United by bonds of History Commerce culture Mutual admiration and great respect after our meeting today I'm confident that the cherished alliances between our two countries and others also will continue to flourish along and

into the future the military cooperation between the United States and Japan is one of our closest security Partnerships and it's one of the closest we have anywhere in the world our service members work together every day to defend our common interests Japan has committed to double its defense spending by 2027 compared to my first term they've uh invested a lot of money uh because of my first term we worked on that very hard with Shinzo you know uh the great Shinzo Obby and we look forward to uh seeing even more so Shinzo and I worked

very very long and hard and those numbers are very reflective uh after my first term and now they're going up very subst ially based on our conversations today in addition to being vital for our shared security Japan is one of the top purchases of US military exports and equipment and I'm pleased to say that this week my Administration approved nearly a billion dollars in foreign military sales to Tokyo the United States is totally committed to the security of Japan we will extend the full strength of American deterrence capabilities and defense of our friend and Ally

100% in the years to come the Prime Minister and I will be working closely together to maintain peace and security and I also say peace through strength and all over the Indo Pacific and to that end we also remain committed to the effort I began in my first term to ensure safety and stability on the Korean Peninsula Prime Minister isaba and I spoke long and hard about a vital economic relationship between our two countries and the continuance of that relationship the United States and Japan trade over $300 billion in goods and services each year Japan

has invested nearly $800 billion and that's going to go up very very substantially in the coming months more than any other country and uh they're going to have some competition we have a lot of people coming in and investing in the United States I think our our uh the feeling throughout the world has never been stronger about this country as a result of our victory in 2024 the presidential election the Japanese investment and Technology giant soft Bank announced plans to invest between 100 and $200 billion and we have many other companies uh investing that number

higher than that number some a little bit less but we have trillions of dollars of investment pouring into our country now that you didn't have just a short while ago today our our teams discussed how our two Nations can do even more to stay on The Cutting Edge of artificial intelligence along with the quantum Computing semiconductors and other critical Technologies and they're coming out the problem with technology that kind it's obsolete in about two days so we have to start all over again doesn't last long we agreed to cooperate even more closely to combat the

Chinese economic aggression which is quite aggressive I'm also pleased to announce that Japan will soon begin importing historic new shipments of clean American liquefied natural gas in record numbers it'll be record numbers uh with our Secretary of the Interior we were talking I think Doug is here hello Doug please stand up Doug Doug bergham everybody we're talking about the pipeline in Alaska which is the closest point of major oil and gas to Japan by far less than half the distance of any other location we're talking about a joint venture of some type uh between Japan

and us uh having to do with Alaska oil and gas and that's very exciting they're very excited about it so are we as we deepen our economic relationship I made clear that the United States will be conducting trade with all countries based on the principle of fairness and reciprocity chronic trade deficits uh not only undermine our economy they really do and we're going to get rid of the trade we have a trade deficit with Japan of over hundred billion dollars but we're going to work that out and I think very quickly frankly we can do

it just on oil and gas we can work it out so we intend to do it very quickly we both understand that and as America welcomes new foreign investment we also want to ensure that companies build their products and factories here in America not simply by the assets that we have and uh Japan is going to be uh opening up Auto plants new auto plants are being built currently as we as we speak they've just been started Toyota is one and uh Nissan's going to be doing something very exciting about NE about us steel they'll

be looking at an investment rather than a purchase we didn't like the idea us steel is a very important company to us it was the greatest company in the world for 15 years many years ago 80 years ago and uh we didn't want to see that leave uh and it wouldn't actually leave but the concept psychologically not good so uh they've agreed to invest heavily in US steel as opposed to own it and that sounds very exciting and we're going to meet with Nissan next week the head of Nissan very great company and uh they'll

work out the details I'll help I'll be there to to mediate and arbitrate and I had the privilege of working closely with the great prime minister as you know and you know him very well Shinzo ABI the longest serving prime minister in Japan's history likewise I expect that this prime minister is going to be a great one I really believe that he's going to be a great one I've gotten to know him uh for not long but uh I can see what they have he's going he's got he's got uh the qualities of greatness he's

going to do a fantastic job for J for Japan and for the Japanese people and I'd like now to invite the prime minister say a few words and then we'll take some questions Mr Prime Minister thank you thank you very [Applause] much Mr President Trump I would like to sincerely thank you for inviting me to the White House today immediately following your inauguration I also thank you for your very warm Hospitality I have come to Washington DC with with the hope of having a face-to-face meeting and deepening our mutual understanding at this early date with

President Trump who is now leading the United States the most important country for Japan's diplomacy and security and aligning our perspectives and visions that Japan and the United States should pursue what should we do to advance the national interests of both of our countries in Synergy and to realize peace and prosperity in the indopacific I am convinced that the answer lies in further strengthening the strong and unwavering Japan us Alliance to achieve a free and open indopacific president and I concurred to strengthen the deterrence and response capabilities of the Alliance and to work closely in

addressing strategic challenges that both countries are facing in this region I conveyed to the president that Japan as an ally of the United States is ready to share responsibilities and to play its own role I also reiterated Japan's unwavering commitment to fundamentally reinforcing its defense capabilities and we confirmed the unwavering commitment by the United States to the defense of Japan we reaffirmed that article five of the Japan us Treaty of mutual cooperation and security applies to the Saku islands with half of the world's population in approximately 60% of the world's GD GDP the indopacific serves

as the engine of growth and vitality for Japan the United States and the world World president and I also concurred that the United States and Japan will make further efforts in a wide range of areas work working hand inand together to realize a free and open Indo Pacific in this context we also concurred the further Advanced cooperation of the multi-layered networks of the likeminded countries including the quad and trilateral cooperation with the Republic of Korea and the Philippines we also discussed Japan United States cooperation to bring about growth and prosperity economic cooperation including on economic

security is important from the perspective of strengthening Alliance cooperation Japan is the closest economic partner of the United States and has been the world's largest investor in the United States for five consecutive years also so with the inauguration of President Trump the momentum for Japanese companies to invest in the United States is growing even stronger today I conveyed my willingness to cooperate together to elevate Japan's investment in the United States to an unprecedented amount of $1 trillion president Trump and myself also concurred to elevate the Japan us partnership to an even higher level through improving

business environment and increasing bilateral investment in employment strengthening each other's Industries leading the world in developing advanced technology such as Ai and Leading Edge semiconductors and strongly promoting efforts to harness the energy of the growing Market in the indopacific region we also confirmed that we will cooperate to strengthen energy security between the two countries including increasing exports of United States liquefied natural gas to Japan in a mutually beneficial manner regarding foreign exchange as in the first Trump Administration closed discussions will continue between Japanese and the US Finance ministers who are experts in this field we

also held candid discussions on challenges the Indo Pacific region is facing we confirmed that we are resolved not to allow unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or corrosion and to oppose such attempts in the East and South China seas in order to fully defend a free and open indo-pacific we also reiterated the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan on Street regarding North Korea we affirmed the need to address its nuclear and missile program which poses a serious threat to Japan the US and Beyond and that Japan and the US will

work together toward the complete denuclearization of North Korea as the abductees and their families continued to age I conveyed my strong sense of urgency and determination directly to president Trump and G his renewed strong support for the immediate resolution of the abductions issue while this was my first face-to-face meeting with President Trump we were able to openly and frankly exchange views and our meeting turned out to be very productive and meaningful as a result of today's meeting which marked a new departure for the Japan us relations we are issuing a Japan us joint leader statement

this document will serve as a compass for further cooperation between our two countries on the basis of these deliverables I look forward to working together with President Trump who I respect immensely to usher in a new golden age of Japan us relations I look forward to welcome coming you to Japan and I'm very excited about that Prospect thank you Mr President thank you very much thank you any questions please Peter Don love what the first lady think about oh I think she'll be okay with it somehow are Engineers have access to these treasury payment areil

contain personal information like Social Security numbers home addresses bank accounts do all that well it doesn't but they get it very easily I mean we don't have very good Security in our country and they get it very easily and what we're doing if you look at uh uh what has just taken place with respect to some of the Investments that have been made on another agency that people have been talking about for years but nobody did anything about it uh it's absolutely obscene dangerous bad very costly I mean virtually every investment made is a con

job uh there's nothing of value to anybody unless there's a kickback scheme going on which is possible and we're going to be doing more and more of that we're going to be looking at Department of Education we're going to be looking at even our military we're going to be looking at tremendous amounts of money Peter are being spent on things that bear no relationship to anything and have no value we're talking about trillions of dollars it will be in the end trillions of dollars being absolutely wasted and perhaps illegally I would say certainly in many

cases illegally but perhaps illegally overall and uh I'm very proud of the job that this group of young people generally young people but very smart people they're doing uh they're doing at at my insistence it would be a lot easier not to do it but we have to uh take some of these things apart to find the corruption we found tremendous corruption you mentioned the Department of Education what you think when you saw Democratic lawmakers trying to get into the department ofation well I see the same ones I see Maxine Waters a low life I

see you know all these people they don't they don't love our country they don't love our country we want great education so they rank 40 countries in education we're ranked dead last dead last but the good news is we're number one in one category you know what that is cost per pupil we spend more per pupil than any any other country in the world you look at Norway Denmark Sweden various countries all up and down Finland China does very well in education and then you look at us we spend much more money than they do

per pupil or any other way but we spend much more money than they do and yet we're ranked this year La Biden's last year congratulations Joe we're ranked dead last so what I want to see is education number one I like choice we all like choice but beyond Choice long Beyond choice I want to see it go back to the states where great States that do so well have no debt they're operated brilliantly they'll be as good as Norway or Denmark or Sweden or any of the other highly ranked countries they'll be you probably have

30 I figure 35 to 38 States will be right at the top and the rest will come along they'll have to come along competitively and by the way we'll be spending a lot less money and we'll have great education effort uh one of the Doge Engineers was fired for some inappropriate posts the Vice President says bring him back what do you say well I don't know about the particular thing but if the vice president said that did you say that I'm with the vice president thank you Peter yeah go ahead please yes red dress president

um just how strong do you want Japan's military to be and do you specifically hope that their increased military spending will deter China and North Korea what did you talk about that what today well I want our military to be the strongest I also uh don't mind spending so much money on the military because we build it here it's made in the USA all made in the USA we have oh you know I I rebuilt our military during my first term did a great job we left some of it behind in Afghanistan stupidly there was

no reason for that but uh it was still as much as it was it was billions and billions of dollars but it was a small part of it uh but we're going to have the strongest military by far uh we have great people I want to congratulate Pete Heth for having gone through the gauntlet he went through a lot but he got through and he's going to be a tremendous I have no doubt he's going to be a tremendous leader and other of the leaders sitting here they're in their own Fields they're going to we're

going could do something very very very great and we expect great things but I expect the strongest military by far in the world far stronger than China far stronger than anybody and that's the way it is thank you very much uh would you like to ask a question please go ahead thank you Mr President thank um this is hoto from neon television um my question let me ask a two quick question sure uh first um um this is the first meeting between uh Mr President and M uh prime minister ishiba so what kind of impression

do you have on him and number two um do you have an idea or do you have a plan to to impose tariff against Japan so far thank you I think that he is going to be a great prime minister I think he's a very strong man very very strong I have great respect for him I've known him for a long time through a reputation uh Shinzo ABI thought the world of him and uh I think he's going to do a fantastic job as prime minister very strong person uh I wish he wasn't so strong

strong I wish he was a little bit weaker than that but that's what I got I have to get strong guys all the time he's going to be a great prime minister I also uh in terms of tariffs I mean we're going to have tariffs mostly reciprocal tariffs where we go with and I'm going to be probably meeting on that Monday or Tuesday have an announcement probably a news conference but probably reciprocal tariffs where uh a country pays so much or charges us so much and we do the same so very reciprocal because I think

that's the only fair way to do it that way nobody's hurt uh they charge us we charge them it's the same thing and I seem to be going in that line as opposed to a a flat fee tariff okay yes go please please go ahead why don't you go ahead this is OT from yimu newspaper I have a question for prime minister Isa so this is your very first summit meeting what was your impression of President Trump were you able to build a good relationship of trust and confidence uh in Northeast Asia there are many

challenges China North Korea and so forth and with President Trump what did you appeal to him and what kind of understanding were you able to obtain on economic field there is uh the acquisition of us steel the B Nippon steel and there are expansion of import of lmg what were the communication discussion did you have with President Trump for the $1 trillion of investment from Japan to investment what was his reaction what about your communication on tariff front this is the first time that I met with uh president Trump in person so this was the

first time meeting face to face but uh for many many years I have watched him on television so it was quite I was so excited to see such a celebrity on television to see in person on television he is uh frightening and he has the very strong personality but when I met with him actually he was very sincere and very powerful and with strong will for the United States as for the whole world I was able uh to feel that uh this is uh not the sort of polishing uh uh or trying to suck up

to him for the world peace and for the regional stability that both of our countries need uh to play our role and make our endeavors and responsibility as for the increase of our defense expenditures it is not that we are told by the United States to do so Japan on our own on our own decision and on our own responsibility we need to increase our defense expenditures but of course we need to communicate and consult with the United States but the responsibility is with Japan and the decision is with Japan now on the tariffs that

if it is mutually beneficial tariffs need to be set and as for Japan as Mr President has introduced to us an unprecedented investment will be made from Japan to the United States and so many jobs will be created so $1 trillion is the Target and this will be to the benefit of the United States but also to the benefit of Japan as well investment is mutually beneficial so be it with us steel as Mr President says it is not acquisition it is investment so the Japanese technology will be provided and the better quality products will

be manufactured in the United States States and the US steel will make products which will contribute not only to the United States and Japan but also to the whole world it is not one-sided it will be reciprocal it will be mutually beneficial and I believe we were able to share on this and that is the biggest result that we I have seen today thank you very much go ahead please yeah uh from Fox Business I wanted to ask you about that us steel uh deal so you're saying that is this a uh is this a

restructuring of the deal that's happening and then will you approve they're doing it as an investment no longer a purchase okay I didn't want it purchased but investment I love and they're going to do a big investment subject to getting the deal done they'll be doing proof where the I'm okay with that sure um and for the Prime Minister what was your argument uh to the president related to us deal and one more on tariffs uh Mr President if I could um you you said on tariffs that you'd like them to have be reciprocal back

and forth what was the reception from the Japanese prime minister when you said that when you talked about well we didn't discuss tariffs too much we really discussed many other things including the pipeline in Alaska which I think is going to be maybe the most exciting thing with Doug Chris uh we discussed that at length the pipeline I mean it seemed to be of great interest to them it's uh we have potentially uh more oil and gas than in Saudi Arabia just in Alaska we have the most of any country in the world it's a

big asset for the United States but we haven't used it we go to Venezuela we go to other places to take oil and gas and we have more than anybody it's an amazing phenomena that took place over the last four years nobody understands it including the people that were in charge of it they had no clue what they were doing so it was a it was a big problem they were surprised actually too they were saying why why didn't they they they wouldn't sell them LNG they wouldn't sell Japan wanted to buy LNG and Biden

wouldn't sell it and I'm trying to figure that one out maybe it was the environment you might as answer that question he's curious about that himself I think thank you very much if you want to answer that uh you may about LG that the United States wouldn't sell you LG that was a really unfortunate thing um but the current Administration I'm sorry the previous administration was not allowing the LNG to be exported to us I believe that President Trump on the day of his inauguration uh allowed us to resume um this importing I think this

is something that is really uh wonderful for us and as the country of Japan we are interested in importing not just LNG but also bioethanol uh ammonia and other reasonable other resources at a stable price reasonable price um from the United States and we also want to uh improve the the trade deficit that the US has towards Japan so if we are able to uh buy those at a stable and reasonable price PR I think it would be a wonderful uh situation and for that I'm very appreciative to president Trump and we also look forward

uh to LNG and hope that it's a success I want to just say that uh or the ethanol Iowa is going to be very happy all of the Nebraska all of our farm states are going to be very happy they want ethanol and we'll be able to provide it so our Farmers uh who I like and they like me I I think they're going to be very very happy uh we've opened the sale of LG immediately actually we did it a few days ago and ch right now uh not only China everybody wants to buy

it we have more than anybody and they're all buying it but Japan in particular we're very happy that uh they're going to start immediately and we could Supply it to the world but we're supplying it to Japan and they can always be right up in the front of the line yeah go ahead please go ahead thank you so much Mr Prime Minister I have a question for you as well but Mr President I'll start with you quickly to follow up on what Peter was asking have you directed Elon Musk to review Pentagon spending given it's

the the biggest discretionary spending Pentagon education uh just about everything we're going to go through everything just as it was so bad with what we just went through with this horrible situation we just went through and I guess 97% of the people have been dismissed it was very very unfortunate you're not going to find anything like that but uh you're going to find a lot and I've instructed him to go check out education to check out the Pentagon which is the military and uh you know sadly you'll find some things that are pretty bad but

I don't think proportionately you're going to see anything like we just saw and your FBI has turned over a list to the justice department of the FBI agents who worked on the January 6 riers cases are you planning to fire the FBI agents who worked on those investigations no but I'll fire some of them because some of them were corrupt I have no doubt about that I got to know a lot about uh that business that world I got to know a lot about that world and we had some corrupt agents and those people are

gone or they will be gone and it'll be done quickly and uh very surgically did you have a question for the Prime Minister January inv talk up are those the on who worked on the January I don't know I don't know I know we have some that are very corrupt and we don't like it we're going to bring back the reputation of the FBI Cas Patel is going to do great job and we're going to bring back the reputation of the FBI which has been hurt very badly it's been devastated over the last four years

Mr Minister uh you have just been meeting for the first time with President Trump the last Administration famously did not have hardly any if at all contact with North Korea president Trump certainly did the last time he was in office would you like to see him resume that that contact and also that in-person meeting that he had with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that is something that the United States needs to determine on its own and it's not something that we should request having said that but uh for example in Vietnam or Singapore the

president of the United States uh president Trump uh was able to meet with Kim Jong-un I think that's a very positive development so now that President Trump is in power again if we are able to move towards resol resolving issues with the North Korea I think it would be a great and of course for us uh that's that includes not only denuclearization but also olving the abductee issue and so the not only the the victims of the abductees but also their families too are aging and so our time is limited so if the president of

the United States if president Trump is able to resolve this issue we do understand that it's a Japan issue first and foremost having said that we would love to continue to cooperate with them it's it's actually a good question and we will have relations with North Korea with Kim Jong-un I got along with him very well as you know I think I stopped the War I think if uh I wouldn't have won that particular election you would have ended up in a a very bad a very bad situation but I did and we had a

good relationship and uh I think it's a very big asset for everybody that I do get along with him I I like I mean I get along with him he gets along with me and that's a good thing not a bad thing and I can tell you that Japan uh likes the idea because their relationship is not very good with him and uh if I can have a relationship with not only him but other people throughout the world where there seem to be difficulties I think that's a tremendous asset for the world not just the

United States go ahead I have a question for you and for the Prime Minister as well um Mr President I wonder what you make of the criticism from Democrats that these staff reductions the cuts that Elon Musk and do are doing are an unlawful power grab and is there anything you've told Elon Musk he cannot touch well we haven't discussed that much uh I'll tell him to go here go there he does it he's got a very capable group of people very very uh very very capable they know what they're doing they'll ask questions and

they'll see immediately as somebody gets tongue tied that they're either crooked or don't know what they're doing uh we have very smart people going in so I've instructed him go into education go into military go into other things as we go along and they're finding massive amounts of fraud abuse waste all of these things so uh but I I will pick out a Target and I say go in uh there could be areas that we won't but I I I think everything's fertile you know we're a government we have to be open and as an

open government I don't know I guess you could say maybe some high intelligence or something and I'll do that myself if I have to but uh generally speaking uh I'll just say go but he will be looking at education pretty quickly and he will be looking at military too you know the bulk of federal spending is social security Medicare programs like that would you like to see him look at those programs as well well they don't really have to be looked at by him they can be looked at by us Social Security will not be

touched it'll only be strengthened uh we have uh illegal immigrants on Social Security and we're going to find out who they are and take them out we have uh illegal immigrants and other Medicare we have uh we found a lot of bad people a lot of people that shouldn't be on that were put on when through California they come a lot of them come out of California we're not going to stand for that so we're going to strengthen our social security Etc uh we're not going to touch it other than to make it stronger but

we have people that shouldn't be on and those people we have to weed out most of them or many of them so far have been illegal immigrants they shouldn't even be in the country do you have a question for the Prime Minister I do Mr Prime Minister the president's affinity for tariffs is welln if the US places tariffs on Japanese Imports would Japan retaliate I am unable to respond to a theoretical question that's the official answer that we have that's a very good answer very good answer wow that's very good he knows what he's doing

thank you very much much everybody thank you thank you