US & Canada

Trump Surprised at Ishiba’s Resignation

Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as he speaks to the press at Joint Base Andrews after attending the U.S. Open men’s tennis final, in Maryland, U.S., September 7, 2025.

Jiji Press

17:57 JST, September 8, 2025

WASHINGTON (Jiji Press) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday he was “a little bit surprised” at Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s resignation announcement earlier in the day.

“I found him to be a very nice man. Actually we dealt very well together,” Trump told reporters in a Washington suburb.

Shortly after the start of his second term, Trump invited Ishiba to the White House in February and renewed the Japan-U.S. commitment to strengthening the two nations’ alliance in pursuit of “Golden Age” relations. But he often complained about the U.S. trade deficit with Japan and the bilateral security treaty’s “unfairness.”

Whoever becomes a new Japanese prime minister, Trump will keep demanding that Japan expand its defense outlays, a U.S. government source said.

Noting that the Japan-U.S. alliance “is the cornerstone of peace, security, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and across the world and has never been stronger,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson said, “We look forward to continuing our work with the Government of Japan.”

Meanwhile, U.S. media outlets pointed to concerns over possible political instability in Japan, the biggest U.S. ally in Asia, in their flash reports on Ishiba’s resignation.