Trump gets royal welcome in Japan, China truce hopes rise

Tokyo: US President Donald Trump received a royal welcome in Japan on Monday, the latest stop on a five-day Asia tour he hopes to conclude with an agreement on a trade war truce with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Making his longest trip abroad since taking office in January, Trump announced a flurry of deals on trade and critical minerals with four Southeast Asian nations during his first stop in Malaysia and is scheduled to meet Xi in South Korea on Thursday.

Negotiators from the world's two largest economies agreed on Sunday to a framework for a deal that would pause higher US tariffs and Chinese export controls on rare earths, US officials said. The news sent Asian markets soaring to record highs.


"I've got a lot of respect for President Xi and I think we're going to come away with a deal," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One before landing in Tokyo.

Trump meets Japanese emperor

Wearing a gold tie and blue suit, Trump waved and pumped his fist before being flown by helicopter for a nighttime tour of Tokyo, where several skyscrapers were lit in the red, white and blue of the US flag. He later visited the Imperial Palace, shaking hands and posing for photographs with Japanese Emperor Naruhito.

Trump has already secured a $550 billion investment pledge from Japan in exchange for relief from steep US import tariffs.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Japanese counterpart Ryosei Akazawa, who brokered the July tariff deal, discussed joint investments in power grids over a sushi lunch in Tokyo earlier Monday, local media reported.

PM Sanae Takaichi is expected to further court Trump on Tuesday with promises to buy US pickup trucks, soybeans, and natural gas, as well as announce a shipbuilding agreement, according to sources familiar with the plans. Takaichi, who last week became Japan's first female prime minister, told Trump in a Saturday call that strengthening the US-Japan alliance was her "top priority."

Trump said he looked forward to meeting Takaichi - a close ally of his late friend and golfing partner, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe - adding, "I think she's going to be great."

China calls for US cooperation

China hopes the US will "meet it halfway" to pave the way for "high-level interactions" between the two countries, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call on Monday, according to China's foreign ministry. President Xi Jinping and Trump have "long-standing exchanges and respect each other," Wang said, calling their relationship "the most valuable strategic asset in China-US relations." The call came ahead of an expected Xi-Trump meeting in South Korea on Thursday, on the sidelines of the APEC CEO Summit.