By John Geddie and Costas Pitas
TOKYO, Feb 6 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump gave his “total endorsement” of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ahead of a national election there on Sunday, adding he would meet her at the White House on March 19.
Japan’s first female premier, whose coalition is widely expected to win, according to opinion polls, is seeking a public mandate for spending plans that have rattled investors, and a defence build-up that could further strain relations with China.
Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party and its partner, the Japan Innovation Party, known as Ishin, could capture around 300 seats in the 465-seat lower house of parliament, the polls show, well up from the razor-thin majority they now control.
TAKAICHI POISED FOR WIN DESPITE MARKET JITTERS
“Prime Minister Takaichi is someone who deserves powerful recognition for the job she and her Coalition are doing,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.
“Therefore, as President of the United States of America, it is my Honor to give a Complete and Total Endorsement of her, and what her highly respected Coalition is representing.”
Takaichi’s election promise to help households cope with rising prices by suspending the 8% sales tax on food has shaken investor confidence in an economy with the heaviest debt burden in the world.
In recent weeks, investors have fled Japanese government bonds and sent the yen into crisis mode on concerns about how Tokyo would pay for the estimated 5 trillion yen ($30 billion) hit to annual revenue.
However, with other parties touting deeper tax cuts and broader spending, a comprehensive victory for the LDP, which has ruled Japan for most of the postwar era, could end up being the least-worst option for financial markets, analysts have said.
One of 64-year-old Takaichi’s first engagements after she was elevated to prime minister in October was to host Trump in Tokyo.
She gave him a putter used by his former golfing buddy, the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Lauded by Trump for breaking Japan’s glass ceiling, Takaichi pledged billions of dollars in investments in a meeting analysts said helped underline the strength of the Japan-U.S. alliance.
TRUMP HAS ASKED TAKAICHI NOT TO ANGER CHINA
Weeks later, however, she touched off the biggest diplomatic dispute with China in over a decade by publicly outlining how Tokyo might respond to a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
Trump, who is seeking to maintain a fragile trade truce with China, asked Takaichi in a private phone call in November not to further aggravate Beijing, sources told Reuters.
A resounding victory could hand Takaichi new clout in the dispute with China, current and former Japanese officials said, though Beijing has shown no signs of backing down.
Takaichi’s plans to strengthen Japan’s defences will likely also draw more anger from Beijing, which has cast her endeavours as an attempt to revive Japan’s past militarism.
While the row with China is starting to weigh on the world’s fourth-largest economy, it has hardly dented Takaichi’s high approval ratings. She has even become an unlikely idol for some voters, who have been buying up the bag she carries and the pink pen she scribbles with in parliament.
Turnout among young supporters, who tend to vote less than older cohorts, could help determine the margin of a Takaichi victory. Record snowfall in some parts of the country could also crimp turnout.
If the polls have it all wrong, and Takaichi loses her majority, she has said she will resign.
Takaichi “has already proven to be a strong, powerful and wise Leader, and one that truly loves her country,” Trump said in his endorsement.
The U.S. president has increasingly sought to shape foreign elections. He backed Argentine President Javier Milei, highlighting U.S. financial support as a factor in Milei’s 2025 legislative success. On Thursday, he endorsed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for a vote there in April.
Analysts say such interventions signal a growing pattern of aligning with right-wing leaders abroad.
(Reporting by John Geddie in Tokyo, Costas Pitas, Bhargav Acharya and Nandita Bose; Editing by Susan Heavey and Michelle Nichols)
Comments