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Japan and the US are crucial defence allies and each other's top foreign financiers

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday left for the United States ahead of what will be President Donald Trump's 2nd summit with a foreign leader given that his go back to the White House.

Japan is among the closest allies of the United States in Asia with around 54,000 US military personnel stationed in the country.

Ishiba will be pushing for peace of mind on the value of the US-Japan alliance, as Trump's "America First" program risks trespassing on the countries' trade and defence ties.

"It would be terrific if we could verify that we will work together for the advancement this region and the world and for peace," Ishiba told reporters in Tokyo before leaving for macphersonwiki.mywikis.wiki the trip.

paper said Thursday the pair will provide a joint declaration, which might vow to develop a "golden era" of bilateral relations and bring the alliance to "new heights".

Ishiba is anticipated to tell Trump that Japan will increase defence buy from the United States, the Nikkei said.

Ishiba may likewise propose importing more US gas-- chiming with Trump's plan to "drill, child, drill" while boosting energy security for resource-poor Japan.

Since Japan has cut its liquefied gas (LNG) imports from Russia, it "desperately needs to open brand-new sources of LNG, and other energy more broadly", Sheila Smith, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP.

"The objective is to provide a win-win value proposition from Ishiba to the president," she said.

Trump will satisfy Ishiba in Washington on Friday-- just days after a joint interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where the US president sparked outcry with a proposal to take over the Gaza Strip.

The Japan summit might be less shocking, Smith said, as Trump "has a fairly strong dedication to the alliances in Asia".

- Taiwan threat -

Ishiba has worried the significance of US defence ties, indicating risks on Japan's doorstep such as China pressing its claims of sovereignty on the self-ruled island of Taiwan.

Tokyo must "continue to protect the US commitment to the area, to avoid a power vacuum leading to regional instability", Ishiba recently informed parliament.

Trump and Ishiba are expected to affirm the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese media said.

That would echo joint statements made by the last US president Joe Biden with previous Japanese prime ministers.

Focusing on this point is "incredibly essential" because Japan and the United States need to work together to avoid a prospective crisis, said Takashi Shiraishi, a worldwide relations professional at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto.

As Japan and the United States renegotiate how to share the problem of defence expenses, nevertheless, there are issues Trump could offer less cash and push Japan to do more, Smith said.

"That's where ... the Ishiba-Trump relationship might get a bit sticky," she said.

- After Abe -

Also causing jitters is Trump's determination to slap trade tariffs on major trading partners China, it-viking.ch Canada, and Mexico-- though he has actually delayed measures against the latter two nations pending talks.

"I hope Ishiba will show him there are other methods to attain financial security," such as working together on technology, Shiraishi told AFP.

One example is the Stargate drive, revealed after Trump's January inauguration, to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States, led by Japanese tech financial investment leviathan SoftBank Group and US firm OpenAI.

Reports said the leaders could also discuss Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion bid to buy US Steel, which Biden obstructed on national security premises.

Japan and the United States are each other's leading foreign financiers, and the Nikkei reported that the leaders will concur on creating an investment-friendly environment.

During his very first term, Trump and Japan's then-prime minister Shinzo Abe took pleasure in warm relations.

As president-elect in December, elearnportal.science Trump also hosted Akie Abe, the widow of Japan's assassinated ex-premier, for a dinner with Melania Trump at their Florida house.

Trump constructed a strong relationship with Abe, for whom Smith thinks he had a "genuine fondness".

He will likely "see Ishiba through a various lens", said Smith, and "it will be more the state-to-state relationship, not the personal".

Ishiba, 68, will not be the first Japanese VIP to fulfill the 78-year-old Trump in individual given that he took workplace-- a distinction held by SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son.