U.S. President Donald Trump threw his full support behind Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ahead of Sunday’s national election, a rare foreign endorsement that adds momentum to a campaign already heading toward a decisive victory.
Trump said he looked forward to hosting Takaichi at the White House next month and praised her leadership in a post on his Truth Social platform, calling it a “complete and total endorsement.” The backing comes as Japan’s first female prime minister seeks a public mandate for sweeping defence expansion and bold spending plans that have unsettled markets and heightened tensions with China.
Opinion polls suggest Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, are on course to win around 300 seats in the 465-member lower house. That would significantly expand the narrow majority they currently hold and cement her authority just months after taking office.
Takaichi, 64, is a nationalist conservative who has openly cited former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as a political inspiration. While she was already expected to secure a strong result, Trump’s endorsement is seen as a diplomatic tailwind that resonates both politically and economically in Japan.
“From the business community’s perspective, improved recognition by Trump is viewed as a positive,” said Asuka Tatebayashi, a geopolitical analyst at Mizuho Bank. “Trump is also more popular in Japan than in many Western countries, which gives the endorsement broader appeal.”
Japanese government spokesman Kei Sato declined to comment directly on Trump’s remarks but confirmed that the U.S. president had invited Takaichi to Washington on March 19. He said the visit would reaffirm the strength of the Japan-U.S. alliance amid growing global uncertainty.
Takaichi moved quickly to cultivate ties with Trump after becoming prime minister in October, hosting him in Tokyo during one of her first high-profile engagements. She presented him with a golf putter once used by the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump’s close ally, and pledged billions of dollars in Japanese investment. Analysts said the meeting underscored continuity in the alliance and reinforced her international standing.
That goodwill has since been tested by rising friction with China. Weeks after taking office, Takaichi sparked Japan’s most serious diplomatic clash with Beijing in more than a decade by publicly outlining how Tokyo might respond to a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
Sources told Reuters that Trump later urged Takaichi in a private phone call not to further inflame Beijing, as he seeks to preserve a fragile trade truce with China. A landslide victory could strengthen her hand in the standoff, though Japanese officials say Beijing has shown no sign of softening its stance.
China has repeatedly criticized Takaichi’s push to expand Japan’s military capabilities, framing it as a return to wartime militarism. Despite the pressure, her approval ratings remain high. She has even become a cultural phenomenon, with supporters snapping up replicas of her handbag and the pink pen she uses in parliament.
Financial markets have been less forgiving. Takaichi’s campaign pledge to suspend sales tax on food to ease cost-of-living pressures has rattled investors in an economy already carrying the world’s heaviest public debt.
Concerns over how Japan would absorb an estimated 5 trillion yen, about $30 billion, annual revenue shortfall have triggered a selloff in government bonds and pushed the yen into sharp decline. Still, analysts say a clear LDP victory may reassure markets compared with opposition parties proposing even deeper tax cuts and broader spending.
Voter turnout could shape the final outcome. Takaichi enjoys strong support among younger voters, though they traditionally turn out in lower numbers than older generations. Heavy snowfall across parts of the country may also suppress participation.
Takaichi has said she will resign if her coalition fails to retain its majority, a pledge that adds further stakes to an election that could redefine Japan’s economic direction, its security posture and its role in an increasingly volatile region.
