Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledged on November 4 to boost investments in 17 strategic fields, including artificial intelligence and shipbuilding, to revitalize the economy. Her administration aims to finalize a growth plan by next summer. The strategy seeks to increase tax revenues without raising taxes through public spending.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi vowed on November 4 at the inaugural meeting of the Council for Japan's Growth Strategy in the Prime Minister's Office to build a "strong economy" through intensified public-private investments in fields such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, shipbuilding, and quantum technology. The council, chaired by Takaichi and involving her entire cabinet, will formulate a new growth strategy by next summer, replacing a similar body from former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's administration.
Takaichi assigned each of the 17 strategic areas to relevant ministers and instructed them to develop roadmaps detailing investment plans, timelines, and target spending amounts for multi-year budgets. "We will powerfully advance a growth strategy to realize a robust economy," she said, emphasizing a "virtuous cycle" where corporate earnings and household incomes rise, boosting tax revenues without tax hikes. The fields include defense industries, aviation and space, biotechnology, information and communications, and the marine sector.
The government aims to expand demand through procurement in areas like defense, while promoting regulatory reforms, startups, and human resource development to attract private investment with mid- to long-term outlooks. A new growth strategy panel of experts and ministers was established under the council to coordinate on comprehensive economic measures this year.
Takaichi, Japan's first female prime minister who took office last month, stressed in her October 21 policy speech the need for bold strategic investments to enhance resilience against crises, including economic and food security. Shipbuilding highlights recent cooperation with U.S. President Donald Trump from their meeting last week, building on a July bilateral trade deal under her predecessor Shigeru Ishiba, where Japan pledged $550 billion in U.S. key industries to lower tariffs.
