Trump to meet with senior Japanese official after court session Tuesday in hush money trial
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump is meeting with another foreign leader while in New York for his criminal hush money trial.
The presumptive Republican nominee will host former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso at Trump Tower on Tuesday, according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they had not been formally announced.
Aso is just the latest foreign leader to spend time with Trump in recent weeks as U.S. allies prepare for the possibility he could win back the White House in November.
“Leaders around the world know that with President Trump we had a safer, more peaceful world,” Trump spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement. “Meetings and calls from world leaders reflect 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 safer and America will be more prosperous.”
Trump met with Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower last week and also recently with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Trump had a close relationship with Shinzo Abe, the former Japanese prime minister who was assassinated in 2022. Aso is vice president of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and also served as deputy prime minister and finance minister under Abe.
Trump has threatened to impose broad new tariffs if he wins a second term.
Early Tuesday morning, he lamented the U.S. dollar hitting a new high against the Japanese yen, calling it “a total disaster for the United States.”
“When I was president, I spent a lot of time telling Japan and China in particular: You can’t do that,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “It sounds good to stupid people, but it’s a disaster for our manufacturers and others.”
The U.S. dollar has recently traded above 150 yen, up from 130 yen a year ago, which has made it more expensive for Japan to import goods but boosted exports.
President Joe Biden hosted current Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House earlier this month for talks and a state dinner. During the visit, the leaders announced plans to improve military ties between the US and Japan, with both sides looking to deepen cooperation amid concerns over North Korea’s nuclear program and China’s increasing military assertiveness in the Pacific .