appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Kyodo

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he thinks Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is his “biggest fan” among world leaders.
“Japan’s doing very well,” Trump said at a press conference after a Group of Seven summit concluded in the French spa resort of Evian-les-Bains. “I have to tell you, she thinks I did a great job. You have to call her and ask her. She’s doing a very good job, by the way.”
Trump’s comments came after he was asked whether he had called on other G7 members, including Britain, Germany and Japan, to send their armed forces in connection with the Strait of Hormuz.
The strait, a critical global shipping route, has been effectively closed since shortly after the United States and Israel launched air strikes on Iran at the end of February.
But just ahead of the G7 summit, the US and Iran reached a preliminary peace deal that will include extending a ceasefire for another 60 days and Tehran reopening the waterway.
The G7 is a bloc consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The EU is also represented within the G7.
Unlike other G7 leaders, Takaichi, Japan’s first female prime minister, has refrained from criticising Trump over the Iran war and other thorny issues.


Takaichi is also known to have heaped praise on Trump when they met at the White House in March, telling him that he was “the only person who can bring peace and prosperity across the world”.
During the press conference, Trump went on to say the US did not necessarily need support from other countries regarding the Iran situation any more, though it was disappointing they did not act earlier.
“Actually, Japan has offered to get involved, but I mean, I’ll be honest, Japan was not willing to get involved during the war,” Trump said.
“I asked her [and] said, ‘You want to get involved a little bit?’ I didn’t put the heavy sell on, but they said, ‘No, we don’t want to get involved.’ Nobody did. We did it ourselves with Israel, and with the Arab states,” he added.


Japan’s Tokyo city male workers can wear shorts in summer. Some call it harassment

Trump says Japan ‘doing very well’ under his ‘biggest fan’ Takaichi

Japan failed to build its own airliner. Now it’s turning to Boeing

As the Iran war comes to a close, is the US pulling warships back to the west Pacific?

Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with US President Donald Trump at the US Navy’s Yokosuka base in Japan last year. Photo: AP

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (right) with Britain’s Keir Starmer (left) and US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on Tuesday. Photo: AP

Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways passenger jets at Tokyo International Airport in Haneda. Photo: AFP

Exhibitors stand next to a SpaceJet model on display at the Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation booth during the 2020 Singapore Airshow. Photo: AFP

An ANA Boeing 787 at Takamatsu Airport in Kagawa prefecture. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Japan seeks spot in Europe’s drone programme amid US supply chain squeeze

An Airbus Eurodrone remotely piloted aircraft system on display at the 55th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget Airport, near Paris, France, on June 17, 2025. Photo: Reuters

People gather near a Eurodrone and an Airbus A-400M military transport aircraft at the International Aerospace Exhibition ILA at Schoenefeld Airport in Schoenefeld, Germany, on June 9. Photo: Reuters

A booth for the Global Combat Air Programme, a UK-Italy-Japan next-generation fighter jet project, is seen at DSEI Japan in Chiba prefecture in May 2025. Photo: Getty Images

News

Asia

East Asia

The US president also said Tokyo was not willing to get involved during the Iran war


The US president also said Tokyo was not willing to get involved during the Iran war.


Trump says Japan ‘doing very well’ under his ‘biggest fan’ Takaichi

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The US president also said Tokyo was not willing to get involved during the Iran war

The US president also said Tokyo was not willing to get involved during the Iran war