Praise, Nobel nominations and promises of foreign investment in the US – Japan’s newly-elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi rolled out the red carpet for Donald Trump on Tuesday.

Trump in turn had warm praise for Takaichi, telling her that the US would be there for “anything you want, any favours you need, anything… to help Japan”.

The two leaders signed a deal on rare earth minerals, as well as a document heralding a new “golden age” of US-Japan relations which reiterated the commitment of the two countries to implement deals struck earlier, including the 15% tariff deal negotiated earlier this year.

The pageantry and the venue also seemed tailor-made for the US president.

A full military guard of honour and band welcomed Trump to the ornate Akasaka Palace, with its vaulted ceilings and gold-encrusted walls not unlike what the president wants in his planned White House ballroom.

Over lunch, Trump congratulated Takaichi for becoming Japan’s first female prime minister.

Notably, according to a White House readout, that lunch was “American rice and American beef, deliciously made with Japanese ingredients” – a move that will no doubt have delighted Trump, who has long demanded that Japan buy rice from the US.

Takaichi also accompanied Trump aboard a US aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, where they were greeted by thousands of cheering American troops. Takaichi took the stage and praised what she called the “greatest alliance in the world” and pledged to increase defence spending.

Trump has in the past criticised Japan’s lack of defence spending. In April this year, he lambasted a security treaty with Japan as being “one-sided”, saying: “We pay billions of dollars to defend them, but they don’t pay anything.”

Ahead of their meeting on Wednesday, Trump said he was sure that he would have a “fantastic relationship” with Takaichi, who had a strong connection with former PM Shinzo Abe, a Trump favourite who was shot dead in 2022.

“She was a great ally and friend of Abe, who was my friend… He was one of the best… I know they were very close, and I think philosophically they were close, which is very good,” he told reporters while flying over to Japan from Malaysia on Tuesday.

Trump is spending a week in Asia. He will leave Japan for South Korea on Wednesday, and is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping there on Thursday.

The meeting with Trump was seen as a critical early test for Takaichi, who was elected as prime minister by Japanese lawmakers earlier this month.

Both countries have long been allies, but navigating a relationship with a fickle Trump, who has in the past appeared to waver in his commitment to Japan, lies at the core of the country’s foreign policy.

On Wednesday, Takaichi described Trump as a “partner in a new golden era”, and praised his role in bringing peace to the Middle East. She announced that Japan would be nominating him for the Nobel peace prize.

She also presented Trump with a collection of golf-related gifts, according to Trump’s assistant Margo Martin.

These included a golf bag signed by Hideki Matsuyama, the first male Japanese golfer to win a major golf championship, as well as a putter used by Abe. They also signed two caps printed with the words: Japan is back.

In turn, Trump described her as a “close friend” and described the US alliance with Japan as a “beautiful friendship” that was “born out of the ashes of a terrible war”. He also announced he had approved the first delivery of long-awaited US missiles for F-35 fighter jets to Japan, which would take place this week.

Pleasantries have set a positive tone to the meetings so far, but behind the smiles and the pagentary, there is real pressure on Japan.

During the working lunch, Takaichi presented Trump with a map showing the investments that Japanese companies have made in the US. And during his speech on the USS George Washington, Trump said Takaichi had told him earlier about plans for Toyota to put $10bn (£7.5bn) into building plants “all over” the US.

But Trump also wants more access to Japan’s markets – not just getting them to buy more rice, but also soybeans, and to open its market to US vehicles.

But Takaichi also needs to protect domestic industries and doesn’t want to anger crucial interest groups at home, like the powerful farming lobby.

Tokyo is heavily reliant on exports, and cannot afford a tariff fight especially when it comes to its auto industry. Automakers – the country’s largest exporters to the US – faced 24% tariffs and tens of billions of dollars in losses.

Tariffs have now been lowered to 15%, in step with rivals in the region such as South Korea.

Tomohiko Taniguchi – former special adviser to Abe – said there were things that Takaichi could draw on from Trump’s relationship with her late mentor. He said it was important for Takaichi to be “straightforward and say bluntly what Japan’s national interests are, and to see where those two nations national interests overlap, and always mindful that Japan’s safety must be in hands of the Japanese”.

But Takaichi won’t just have to balance Japan’s interests and its alliance with the US – she’ll also have to do that while maintaining the country’s crucial trade partnership with China.

Rintaro Nishimura senior associate at the Asia Group said: “Takaichi will have to walk a very fine line, maybe tone down some of her more hawkish tendencies on China… but also assure Trump that the US-Japan relationship is the most important.”

US President Donald Trump has signed a flurry of deals on his Asia visit to secure the supply of rare earths, a critical sector that China has long dominated.

The deals with Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia differ in size and substance and it’s too early to assess their tangible impact. But they all include efforts to diversify access to the minerals that have become essential for advanced manufacturing, from electric vehicles to smartphones.

The agreements, which aim to lock partners into trading with the US, are a clear bid to reduce dependence on China, ahead of a key meeting with its leader Xi Jinping.

They could eventually challenge Beijing’s stranglehold over rare earths, but experts say it will be a costly process that will take years.

“Building new mines, refining facilities, and processing plants in regions such as Australia, the United States, and Europe comes with much higher capital costs, stricter environmental regulations, and more expensive labour and energy inputs [compared to China],” Patrick Schroder, senior research fellow at the Environment and Society Centre at Chatham House wrote in an editorial this week.

It’s not clear yet if the $550bn US investment Japan had previously agreed to will be part of the rare earths deal. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is expected to flesh out those details with Japanese companies during his upcoming visit.

But it’s a turning point step in the US-China rivalry.

Paris (Imran Y. CHOUDHRY) :- Former Press Secretary to the President, Former Press Minister to the Embassy of Pakistan to France, Former MD, SRBC Mr. Qamar Bashir analysis : In recent days, Israel has launched another devastating assault on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 40 civilians and wounding dozens. The attack, which Israeli officials claim was a response to the killing of two of its soldiers by Hamas, has reignited international outrage and raised urgent questions about the fate of President Donald Trump’s 21-point Middle East peace plan. Many observers believe that this assault, like the wars before it, was less a response to provocation and more an attempt to derail the peace framework that could constrain Israel’s territorial ambitions.
In an urgent diplomatic push, President Trump dispatched Vice President J.D. Vance to Israel to secure the government’s commitment to at least the first stage of the plan. At a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the contrast between Washington’s tone and Jerusalem’s defiance was striking. Throughout the entire event, Netanyahu avoided any reference to the peace plan or to Israel’s obligations under it. Vice President Vance, on the other hand, stressed that the plan would allow international agencies to feed the starving population of Gaza, rebuild shattered infrastructure, and ensure security guarantees for both Israelis and Palestinians.
In fact, this peace plan has effectively neutralized Israel’s long-term objectives and reset the situation to zero. It has stopped Israel from achieving its ultimate ambition—not merely the destruction of Gaza and the West Bank, but the complete occupation and denial of the Palestinian right to statehood and self-determination. Israel had sought to permanently expel Palestinians under the pretext of a Hamas-led war, using Hamas as a convenient scapegoat to justify atrocities, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the transformation of Gaza into a slaughterhouse.
However, all of that—the killings, the political maneuvering, the massive financial and military investment, and the loss of soft power, credibility, and global image—has now gone in vain. This peace plan has practically reversed the gains Israel had made over the last three years, despite the enormous resources spent on sustaining its military operations, engaging in open confrontation with Iran, and bearing the immense costs of trade losses, investor flight, and international isolation.
Consequently, the plan represents a terrible blow to Israel, one it may neither easily digest nor forgive. In the coming days, Israel is likely to take every possible measure to sabotage this peace process and return to its earlier trajectory—resuming the killing, reoccupying Gaza and the West Bank, expanding illegal settlements, and advancing toward its long-cherished dream of a “Greater Israel.”
Analysts note that this political and psychological blow explains Netanyahu’s open hostility to the plan. His far-right cabinet views Trump’s initiative as an existential threat to their vision of a regional Israel dominating the Middle East under the banner of divine entitlement. For them, the peace plan undermines decades of ideological investment and military strategy, forcing Israel to confront a future where Palestinian sovereignty is not just tolerated but internationally guaranteed.
Ironically, Hamas—the very organization long branded as the obstacle to peace—appears more willing than Israel to accept the plan’s early conditions. For Hamas, exhausted by siege and isolation, participation offers a chance to regain legitimacy and to attract Arab reconstruction funds. Arab monarchies, too, now see in this plan an opportunity to curtail Iran’s influence in the region by weakening Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Tehran-aligned groups. Their alignment with Washington and Trump’s diplomacy has become a tool to re-engineer Middle Eastern politics around a new Sunni-led order.
Yet the geopolitical centerpiece remains Iran. Tehran, though not a signatory to the plan, looms over every conversation. It alone among Muslim powers retains both the will and the capability to confront Israel militarily. Were it not for U.S. intervention, Israel could have faced a deeper crisis during the recent regional escalation, when Iran demonstrated unprecedented drone and missile capabilities. For this reason, the peace plan’s architects understand that no durable arrangement is possible without Iran’s eventual inclusion or at least tacit restraint.
Still, Israel and Iran now stand on opposite sides of Trump’s initiative—each rejecting it for different reasons. Israel sees it as a brake on its territorial expansion; Iran views it as an American-Israeli tool to marginalize its regional role. Meanwhile, the so-called “middle bloc” of Muslim nations—Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and several Gulf states—support the plan conditionally. They will fund Gaza’s reconstruction only after Hamas is dismantled and new governance structures are in place.
This triangulation has created an uneasy balance: two powerful opponents of the plan, Israel and Iran, confronting a coalition of pragmatic states determined to stabilize the region under U.S. oversight. European nations, pressured by outraged publics and student protests, have also pivoted toward endorsing Palestinian statehood and humanitarian aid. They now see peace in Gaza not as a moral luxury but as a political necessity to preserve their own credibility.
If Israel continues to resist implementation, it risks isolation not only diplomatically but also domestically. American universities, churches, and media outlets are increasingly critical of Israel’s conduct. The moral authority Israel once claimed as a besieged democracy is collapsing under the weight of documented atrocities and live-streamed destruction. Without Trump’s backing, its expansionist agenda could face unprecedented limits.
In this new geopolitical equation, the probable losers are Israel, Iran, and Hamas—each for different reasons. Israel loses because it is constrained; Iran loses because its influence may shrink; Hamas loses because it is being rendered irrelevant. The relative winners are the Sunni Arab states, Turkey, Pakistan, and European nations, whose commitment to reconstruction and stability aligns with public opinion and global expectations.
Yet the success of this ambitious plan depends on unprecedented diplomatic coordination. It demands financial commitment from the Arab world, political discipline from Israel, and restraint from Iran. It also requires sustained U.S. engagement—an uncertain prospect in an election year when domestic divisions are deep and foreign entanglements unpopular.
If these elements can somehow be harmonized, Trump’s peace plan could usher in the first tangible path toward Palestinian sovereignty in decades. If they fail, the region will once again descend into chaos—driven by the same forces of mistrust and ambition that have defined the Middle East for generations.
For now, the world watches anxiously, hoping that sanity prevails, that Israel resists the temptation of renewed aggression, and that the people of Gaza may finally reclaim the right to live with dignity, freedom, and peace.