Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, October 28, 2025 Real World News
The governments of Japan and the United States have long been officially close allies but what set apart the partnership under the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Donald Trump in his first term were strategic security ties that deterred the ambitions of communist China. Abe’s successors drifted back into the default globalist perspective that aside from rhetoric, deferred to China.
In their first in-person meeting, U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday signed a partnership deal on rare earth minerals and released details of a massive Japanese investment pledge in the U.S.
With 50,000 U.S. troops stationed on the island nation, Japan under Abe and Takaichi has broken with self-imposed post-World War II restrictions on military spending and is taking a more active role in its own national defense and in securing the tense regions against Chinese aggression.
Japan will take delivery of some 400 long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles from Washington, a deal valued at $1.6 billion, as well as medium-range air-to-air missiles for its fleet of F-35 stealth fighter jets.
“I have always had a great love of Japan and a great respect of Japan, and I will say that this will be a relationship that will be stronger than ever before,” Trump told Takaichi as the two met in the State Guest House in Tokyo. “Any time you have any question, any doubt, anything you want, any favors you need, anything I can do to help Japan, we will be there.”
During the bilateral summit, Takaichi said the U.S.-Japan partnership is entering “a golden era” and would become “the greatest alliance in the world.”
The U.S.-Japan partnership in rare earths, energy, and defense is seen as a blow to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Trump and Takaichi aligned against China in signing a framework agreement to cooperate on critical minerals, including rare earths.
Per a White House statement, the agreement would “assist both countries in achieving resilience and security of critical minerals and rare earths supply chains, including mining, separation, and processing.”
It will also “capitalize on their respective existing mining and processing operations.”
Rare earths are key components in communications, transport and defense technologies. The main global supplier is China, which monopolizes the sector with an approximately 70% global market share of mining and 90% of processing capacity of rare earths.
Japan offers lessons for nations seeking to slash their reliance on China for rare earths.
In 2010, following a territorial dispute off the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, China stopped rare earth shipments to Japan.
Japan and Japan Inc. responded by changing technologies, expanding stockpiles, and investing in overseas, non-Chinese mines.
Within 13 years, those steps resulted in Japan reducing its reliance on Chinese rare earths from 90% to 60%.
Japan also discovered a massive underwater stash — estimated at 160 million to 230 million tons, according to Science Adviser, of rare earths 18,000 feet deep in 2018. Test mining of the field off Minamitorishima, Japan’s eastern-most island territory, is anticipated in 2026, with extraction in 2027.
If as large as estimated, the find could feasibly become a major global stockpile, though how much that would cut into China’s near-monopoly is, as yet, unclear.
A White House fact sheet on the Trump-Takaichi meeting detailed Japan’s $550 billion investment commitment to the United States to further revitalize the U.S. industrial base, a landmark critical minerals agreement signed on Tuesday, historic purchases of U.S. energy by Japan, and deepened U.S.-Japan cooperation in combating illegal drug trafficking.
Per the fact sheet, As part of Tuesday’s agreement, Japan and various Japanese companies have outlined their commitments to pursuing the following investments.
Critical Energy Infrastructure Investments:
• Up to $332 billion to support critical energy infrastructure in the United States, including the construction of AP1000 and small modular reactors (SMRs), in partnership with Westinghouse; construction of SMRs in collaboration with GE Vernova and Hitachi; the supply of large-scale baseload power infrastructure from ENTRA1 Energy; engineering, procurement, and other services to build critical power plants, substations, and transmission systems in collaboration with Bechtel and Kiewit; other services for design, procurement, and maintenance of large-scale power infrastructure in collaboration with SoftBank Group Corp.; and natural gas transmission and power infrastructure services in collaboration with Kinder Morgan.
• Up to $25 billion to supply large-scale power equipment such as gas turbines, steam turbines, and generators for grid electrification and stabilization systems, including high-voltage direct current and substation solutions for mission-critical facilities in partnership with GE Vernova.
• Up to $25 billion to supply electrical power modules, transformers, and other power-generation substation equipment in collaboration with Toshiba.
• Up to $20 billion to supply thermal cooling systems and solutions, including chillers, air handling systems, and coolant distribution units essential for power infrastructure in partnership with Carrier.
AI Infrastructure Investments:
• Up to $30 billion in partnership with Mitsubishi Electric to supply power station systems and equipment for data centers, up to $25 billion in collaboration with TDK for advanced electronic components and power modules, and up to $20 billion with Fujikura to supply optical fiber cables.
Electronics and Supply Chain Investments:
• Up to $15 billion to produce advanced electronic components, including multilayer ceramic capacitors, inductors, and electromagnetic interference suppression filters, in partnership with Murata Manufacturing.
• Up to $15 billion to supply energy storage systems and electronic devices and components in collaboration with Panasonic.
Critical Minerals Investments:
• Up to $3 billion to construct an ammonia and urea fertilizer facility in the United States and $2 billion to construct a copper smelting and refining facility in the western United States.
Manufacturing and Logistics Investments:
• $600 million to upgrade ports and waterways across the southern United States to facilitate the export of U.S. crude oil; $500 million to establish a high-pressure, high-temperature diamond grit manufacturing facility in the United States; and $350 million to construct a lithium-iron-phosphate production facility in the United States.
The White House noted that Japan committed to further expand opportunities for U.S. exports, including: Toyota plans to export its U.S.-made vehicles to Japan and open its distribution platform in Japan to U.S. automakers, as a result of Japan’s commitment to accept for sale in Japan U.S. manufactured and U.S. safety-certified vehicles without additional testing.
Japan will implement its Mobile Software Competition Act in a way that does not discriminate against U.S. companies, balances the need for fair and free competition with user safety and convenience, and respects the legitimate exercise of intellectual property rights.
The United States and Japan also signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) to expand shipbuilding capacity in both nations by aligning investment, procurement, workforce, and technology initiatives.
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