Arab News Japan

U.S. President Donald Trump could in all probability visit the ongoing 2025 World Exposition in the western Japanese city of Osaka in July.

But for that to happen, it will depend on the progress in Japan-U.S. negotiations over tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.

A Trump visit to the Osaka Expo could boost the ratings of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling coalition ahead of this summer’s House of Councillors election, expected to be held on July 20, observers said.

“I felt a good response about (Trump’s possible) participation in the Expo,” economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s top tariff negotiator, told reporters after meeting with the president in Washington in April.

At the meeting, Akazawa presented Trump a gold-colored soft vinyl coin bank in the shape of Myaku-Myaku, the Expo’s official mascot. The coin bank sells for 8,800 yen including tax.

As of April 26, the cumulative number of visitors to the Expo, which opened on April 13, had reached about 1.38 million, but sales of advance tickets have been slow. Against this backdrop, a Trump visit is expected by some to boost the event.

At a bilateral summit in February, Ishiba and Trump agreed that the U.S. leader would make an official visit to Japan in the near future. Ishiba told Trump that he had seen a lunar rock in the U.S. pavilion at the previous Osaka Expo in 1970. Trump reportedly showed great interest and asked what his country would be displaying this time.

At the ongoing Expo, national days are designated for each participating country, and foreign leaders are visiting Japan to help mark the occasions.

The U.S. national day will come after the 90-day suspension of country-specific parts of the U.S. “reciprocal” tariffs expires on July 9, which the Japanese government sees as the deadline for concluding tariff negotiations.

“If a conclusion that Japan can accept has still not been achieved, there would not be a welcoming atmosphere among the people (of Japan),” a government source said.

Trump may also defer a visit to Japan until he attends a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea in late October, ruling out a visit by him to the Expo, which is scheduled to close on Oct. 13.

“The customary practice is that a U.S. president does not visit Asia twice a year,” a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.