Part 8/15:
Trump’s bilateral talks with Prime Minister Suga Takamichi centered on expanding security cooperation and supply chain resilience. A historic milestone was the signing of a framework agreement on rare earth and critical mineral supply chains—key resources for the electric vehicle and semiconductor industries—aimed at reducing reliance on China. Japan committed to investing $550 billion into U.S. projects and to augment its defense spending, targeting 2% of GDP ahead of schedule to counter Chinese military expansion and tensions in the Taiwan Strait.