Politics & Government

Fox News: Trump Says Japan Would Help with Hormuz ‘If We Need’; Japan ‘Better Ally Than NATO’

#Sanae Takaichi #Donald Trump #Japan-U.S. Summit

Takanobu Sawano / The Yomiuri Shimbun
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are seen during a summit at the White House in Washington on Thursday.

By Keita Ikeda / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

16:36 JST, March 21, 2026

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his expectation that Japan would contribute if necessary to security in the Strait of Hormuz during an interview with a U.S. media outlet on Friday.

During a segment on Fox News, Trump was asked if Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had offered Japan’s support for the U.S. conflict in the Middle East during their summit meeting on Thursday in Washington. Trump was quoted as saying that Japan is restricted constitutionally from deploying ships to the strait but “if we needed Japan, Japan would be there for us.”

Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum, who interviewed Trump by phone, wrote on X that the U.S. president also called Japan a “better ally than NATO.”

During the summit, Trump asked Takaichi for Japan’s help in dealing with the situation in the strait, which has effectively been closed.