President Donald Trump meets with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump reportedly called the new prime minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi, and asked her to back off public statements of support for Taiwan following a long, “angry” call with China’s President Xi Jinping, reported the Wall Street Journal this week.
The WSJ reported that following Trump’s hour-long call with Xi, “Trump set up a call with Takaichi and advised her not to provoke Beijing on the question of Taiwan’s sovereignty, said Japanese officials and an American briefed on the call.”
Xi has long had his eye on reclaiming Taiwan as a part of China, an attack many observers have warned would be devastating for both countries and could spiral into a wider conflict.
The White House released a statement from Trump to the WSJ about the report, saying, “The United States relationship with China is very good, and that’s also very good for Japan, who is our dear and close ally. Getting along with China is a great thing for China and the U.S. In my opinion, President Xi will be substantially upping his purchase of soybean and other farm products, and anything good for our farmers is good for me.”
“We signed wonderful trade deals with Japan, China, South Korea, and many other nations, and the world is at peace. Let’s keep it that way!” Trump added in the statement.
The WSJ noted that Trump is working with Xi to increase China’s purchasing of U.S. agricultural products, which ground to a halt following Trump’s tariffs and trade war against China. The Trump administration is looking to bail out farmers who lost access to foreign markets due to tariffs.
Japan later denied the report to the WSJ, which reported, “A spokeswoman for the Japanese prime minister said it is not accurate that Trump advised Takaichi not to provoke the Chinese government over the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty. Such a remark was not made, she said.”
