Trump declines early meeting with Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba due to legal restrictions
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had planned to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump after attending the APEC summit in Peru, hoping to establish a personal rapport with Trump quickly. However, Ishiba admitted in an interview last Saturday (Nov. 16) that the meeting had been canceled. The Japanese government was informed that Trump would not hold formal meetings with foreign leaders before his inauguration in January next year.
Ishiba explained that Trump's team cited the Logan Act of 1799, a US law that prohibits unauthorized citizens from negotiating with foreign governments. Until Trump's official inauguration on Jan. 20, he remains a private citizen under US law. Ishiba noted that many countries had requested meetings with Trump, but all were declined due to these legal restrictions.
Several Japanese media outlets, including the Asahi Shimbun, pointed out that Ishiba's planned visit was unlikely to happen due to the legal constraints in the US. They noted that informal exchanges could foster ties with Trump without an official visit. In November 2016, then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Trump Tower in New York just nine days after Trump's election victory, where he met with Trump and presented him with a gold-plated golf club—a gesture that helped forge a strong relationship between the two leaders.
The Associated Press reported that Trump has not entirely refrained from meeting foreign leaders since his election victory. Last Thursday, Trump briefly met with Argentine President Javier Milei during an event hosted by a think tank at Mar-a-Lago, Florida. Milei took photos with Trump and Elon Musk and delivered a speech at the event.
Japanese media previously revealed that Ishiba had called Trump to congratulate him after his election win, but their phone conversation lasted only about five minutes. Some members of Japan's parliament privately speculated that Trump might view Ishiba's position as unstable, given that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party currently lacks a parliamentary majority, making Ishiba's premiership less secure and reducing the urgency for a meeting.
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