Trump, Japan sign rare minerals pact | JQJO

On a packed day in Tokyo, President Donald Trump met Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, congratulating Japan’s first female leader and hailing a “new golden age” in ties. The pair signed accords to bolster U.S.-Japan cooperation on critical and rare earth minerals, creating a Rapid Response Group and complementary stockpiles, in a move aimed at balancing China’s tightened exports. Trump will visit troops aboard the USS George Washington and meet business leaders later. Japan gifted him Shinzo Abe’s putter and a Hideki Matsuyama–signed golf bag. He also left open a constitutionally barred third-term bid.