Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks at a news conference in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 19. (Naoko Kawamura)

RIO DE JANEIRO—Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he plans to fully explain and stress the importance of Japan-U.S. cooperation to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has chanted an “America First” mantra.

“We will not take a confrontational approach,” Ishiba said about Japan’s policy toward the second Trump administration at a news conference here on Nov. 19 after the conclusion of the Group of 20 summit.

“We will fully explain that Japan-U.S. cooperation serves our mutual national interests and also contributes to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. We will ensure that he understands it,” Ishiba said.

The Japanese government tried to arrange a meeting between Ishiba and Trump in the United States after his trip to Brazil, but Trump aides said he will not meet with any foreign leader before his inauguration in January.

“We want to make further efforts to build a cooperative relationship while analyzing the policies the incoming administration will take,” said Ishiba, who will return to Tokyo on Nov. 21.

Ishiba earlier agreed with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to continue to work together on a trilateral project to develop a fighter jet.

“We can set the groundwork for broad cooperation among the three countries for decades to come if Japan, Britain and Italy bring technologies together and jointly develop the next-generation fighter aircraft,” Ishiba said at the meeting held in Rio de Janeiro.

The three leaders agreed to forge ahead with the Global Combat Air Program, which calls for the deployment of the first aircraft in 2035, as the core of three-way defense cooperation.

The joint development project was announced in December 2022.

The three countries will establish the GCAP International Government Organization, which is in charge of contracts with companies and export controls, in Britain by the end of the year.

Masami Oka, a former vice defense minister for international affairs, is expected to serve as its first chief executive.

The government plans to replace the Air Self-Defense Force’s aging fleet of F-2 fighter jets with the next-generation aircraft to be developed with Britian and Italy.

In March, the government eased restrictions on weapons exports, paving the way for sales of the jointly developed aircraft to third countries.

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