Donald Trump to meet with former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso at Trump Tower

Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters/FILE

Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso speaks at a forum in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 8, 2023.

CNN
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Donald Trump will meet Tuesday with former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, the deputy head of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, two campaign officials told CNN.

The meeting will take place at Trump Tower in New York after the former president’s appearance in court for his hush money trial. Trump has in recent weeks increasingly met with foreign leaders, who have sought to bolster ties as polls continue to show a tight general election contest between him and President Joe Biden.

“Meetings and calls from world leaders reflect the recognition of what we already know here at home. Joe Biden is weak, and when President Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, the world will be more secure and America will be more prosperous,” Trump senior campaign adviser Brian Hughes said.

The Trump-Aso meeting, which was first reported by Reuters, comes after Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida earlier this month at the White House for a state visit, during which the president touted the US-Japan alliance as being “stronger than it’s ever been” and announced new plans for military cooperation with the country.

Japan has been at the center of Biden’s alliance-building in the Indo-Pacific region, with Kishida significantly shifting the country’s defense posture in recent years and providing ongoing support to Ukraine.

Last week, Trump met with Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower, where the two discussed NATO spending over dinner, according to the former president’s campaign. Earlier this month, Trump also met with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

In March, the former president hosted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at Mar-a-Lago and spoke separately by phone with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain.