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(Bloomberg) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba went into his first summit meeting with US President Donald Trump amid concerns in Tokyo that Japan could be next in the firing line of US allies after Canada and others.

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Instead, the Japanese leader flew home on Friday having appeared to strike up a warm relationship with Trump, secure confirmation of a close security alliance and agree a road map for deeper economic ties.

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“I do think we have chemistry,” said Ishiba on Sunday, following his return to Japan.

Given the risks facing Japan and the possibility of unexpected moves from Trump, experts broadly agreed that Ishiba did a good job of kicking off a positive relationship, ticking off key agenda items including reconfirming the security alliance, and staying away from trickier subjects. With Trump’s threats of ‘reciprocal’ tariffs this week, Japan could still be hit with higher levies from the US, but the broader picture showed the relatively inexperienced Ishiba come away with pragmatic results.

By focusing his message on what Japan could do to help Trump’s “America First” agenda, Ishiba offered a template for other countries to deal with Trump’s transactional nature, said Yuka Hayashi, a vice president of the Asia Group, a consultancy. 

Ishiba’s praise of Trump for everything from surviving an assassination attempt, removing restrictions on US fossil fuel extraction and spurring Japan’s moves to invest more in its military contributed to a summit that exceeded expectations, Hayashi said.

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“Ishiba hit a home run,” she said.

The prime minister’s 24-hour whirlwind visit to Washington DC even resulted in the potential dislodging of a thorn in the side of US-Japan ties after Trump said he’s excited about Nippon Steel Corp. making a major investment in US Steel Corp, instead of purchasing it outright. Trump has opposed a proposed buyout of the iconic US company by Nippon Steel after his predecessor Joe Biden blocked the deal.

“After the achievements of this summit, I hope to work with President Trump to build a new golden era in Japan-US relations,” Ishiba said during a press conference after the meeting.

The summit represented a clear shift in strategy by Japan to focus more on Trump’s priority areas, over more global issues that were the focus of former President Joe Biden. 

In interviews, Japanese government officials said planning for the summit looked at areas in which Tokyo’s interests intersected with Trump’s priorities. One relatively easy win was in energy policy. Japan imports almost all its energy and Trump has pledged to unleash America’s untapped energy reserves.

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During the summit, Japan said it would import more LNG from the US and also expressed interest in cooperating in an ambitious project to deliver LNG through a pipeline from northern Alaska. Details of what Japan would contribute remain vague, but at the press conference Trump celebrated the agreement as a breakthrough that couldn’t have happened under Biden.

Prior to the summit, Ishiba consulted with previous prime ministers about US-Japan relations, and in the opening exchanges with Trump in the Oval Office, Ishiba mixed praise for the US leader with details about new Japanese investment in the US, including new and upgraded auto plants from Isuzu Motors Ltd. and Toyota Motor Corp. 

Throughout events, the prime minister never appeared uncomfortable, even when Trump said tariffs could be an option if Japan continues to run a trade surplus with the US. The Japanese leader’s slow, deadpan delivery didn’t appear to make exchanges awkward, with Trump heaping praise on Ishiba, who has only been national leader for just over four months.

“I think that he is going to be a great prime minister. I think he’s a very strong man, very, very strong. I have great respect for him,” Trump said.

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Ishiba even prompted a smile from Trump and laughs from US officials when he was asked by a journalist if Japan would consider retaliation if the US imposed new tariffs on Japan. “Well, as we always say in official situations, I can’t answer a hypothetical question,” Ishiba said.

Kurt Tong, a former deputy head of mission of the US embassy in Tokyo, said the success of the summit was a vindication of the Japanese leader’s determination to seek a meeting with Trump early in the president’s second term.

“Some people said it was a gamble for Ishiba to go to Washington when the White House is so charged up on various issues, but he pulled it off,” Tong said. 

To be sure, Japan’s relationship with the US is less fraught than that of many other American allies. Japan has no link to issues of illegal immigration and drugs that have roiled US ties with Canada and Mexico. There’s also no territorial dispute similar to that with Denmark over Greenland, and Japan’s trade surplus with the US is far smaller than that of countries like Germany and Vietnam.

American and Japanese interests also closely align when it comes to concerns about China’s growing military power. One of the top goals for the Washington summit for Japan was to confirm the US commitment to their security alliance, which was made clear by Trump and in a joint statement referring to an “unshakable commitment” by the US to defend Japan.

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Still, Tokyo could be caught up in tension over new US tariffs and progress in US-Japan cooperation over the Alaska LNG project needs to be monitored, said Ryoji Watanabe, a chief analyst at Sumitomo Corp. in Washington. Trump has said he plans to unveil reciprocal tariffs this week, a move that has the potential to hit Japan, especially its agriculatural products.

But in contrast to some other US allies, Japan benefits from the strong story it has to tell about its contributions to the US economy and its efforts to relieve some of the US military burden in Asia through increasing defense spending, said Hal Brands, a professor of global affairs at Johns Hopkins University in Washington. 

Trump defied some expectations that he might use the summit to demand Japan spend more on defending itself, instead praising Tokyo’s ongoing moves to lift its defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product from 1% by 2027. In contrast, Trump has already called for NATO members to spend 5% of their GDP on defense.

Kurt Tong, who is now managing partner at the Asia Group, said the summit helped provide a road map for how other US friends and allies might approach the US under Trump.

“Clearly the Japanese side adjusted their approach to Trump’s style and policies,” he said.

—With assistance from Sakura Murakami.

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