is a Japanese

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served as the Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party from 2021 to 2024. He has previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2019 to 2021, and as Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry from 2012 to 2014. He is serving in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He leads the Heisei Kenkyūkai faction within the LDP.

Early life and education

A native of

Ashikaga, Tochigi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Tochigi Prefecture of Honshu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 140,036, in 62,123 households and a population density of 788 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Ashika ...

, Motegi was born on 7 October 1955. He graduated from the

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

in 1978 and worked for the trading company Marubeni Corporation until 1980. He received a post-graduate

Master of Public Policy The Master of Public Policy (MPP) is a graduate-level professional degree. It provides training in policy analysis and program evaluation at public policy schools. The MPP program places a focus on the systematic analysis of issues related to pu ...

degree from the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

in 1983, and worked as a management consultant for

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

from 1984 to 1992.

Career

He was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in the 1993 general election as a member of the Japan New Party, representing the Tochigi 5th district. He changed his political affiliation to the Liberal Democratic Party in 1994, when JNP was dissolved.''

Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', "Fukuda's new lineup", 3 August 2008. He was appointed Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs in October 2002 under Prime Minister

Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi ( ; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a Japanese retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ...

. Koizumi then promoted him to Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, Science and Technology Policy, and Information Technology in September 2003, and on 1 August 2008, Prime Minister

Yasuo Fukuda is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2007 to 2008. He was previously the longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japanese history, serving in that role from 2000 to 2004 under Prime Ministers Yoshirō Mori an ...

appointed him as State Minister in Charge of Financial Services and Administrative Reform. Within the Liberal Democratic Party, Motegi is the acting chairman of the Takeshita faction, the party's third-largest with 52 members.

Abe government

Following the LDP's victory in the 2012 general election, resulting in

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

's election as prime minister, Motegi was named Minister for Economy, Trade, and Industry. He left the Cabinet in September 2014 to serve as Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party Election Committee. He was appointed Chairman of the LDP Policy Council in August 2016. Motegi was appointed Minister for Economic Revitalization and State Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy in 2017. As minister, he was sent as a special envoy to sign the

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), previously abbreviated as TPP11 or TPP-11 before enlargement, is a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand ...

in Santiago, Chile. In August 2019, Motegi led negotiations with U.S. Trade Representative

Robert Lighthizer Robert Emmet Lighthizer (; born October 11, 1947) is an American attorney and government official who was the U.S. Trade Representative in the First presidency of Donald Trump, Trump administration from 2017 to 2021. After he graduated from Geo ...

to finalize a new trade pact between Japan and the United States. ''Nikkei'' dubbed Motegi "Japan's 'Trump whisperer'" in recognition of his role in negotiating with US President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

and his administration. Abe appointed Motegi as foreign minister in September 2019 in recognition of this success. In 2018, Motegi was revealed to have possibly breached Japan's electoral laws. He was accused of making illegal donations of incense sticks to his constituents through his personal secretary. Opposition parties called for his resignation. He was active in gathering support for Abe's re-election as president of the Liberal Democratic Party that year.

Suga and Kishida governments

After Abe's resignation as prime minister, his successor

Yoshihide Suga is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2020 to 2021. He had served as Chief Cabinet Secretary during the second administration ...

opted to retain Motegi as foreign minister after taking office in September 2020. As Suga was known to be weak in foreign affairs, this gave Motegi an opportunity to build his reputation and brand, while maintaining the foreign policy initiatives from the Abe government. In October 2020, Motegi met with U.K. International Trade Secretary

Liz Truss Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth da ...

to sign a bilateral

economic partnership agreement An economic partnership agreement is an economic arrangement that eliminates barriers to the free movement of goods, services, and investment between countries. This agreement can be considered an intermediate step between free trade area and ...

estimated to raise British exports to Japan by 17.2% (¥355 billion) and Japanese exports to Britain by 79.9% (¥1.775 trillion). In the trade package, British import tariffs are expected to reduce by up to 60% for

Kobe beef Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in the Kansai re ...

, 31% for the Japanese chocolate snack

Pocky is a Japanese sweet snack food produced by the Ezaki Glico food company. Pocky was first sold in 1966, and was invented by Yoshiaki Koma. It consists of coated biscuit sticks. It was named after the Japanese onomatopoeic word , which is suppo ...

, 22% for

bluefin tuna Bluefin tuna is a common name used to refer to several species of tuna of the genus ''Thunnus''. {{Animal common name Commercial fish Thunnus Fish common names ...

, 13% for udon noodles, and 6% for

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

. After Suga's resignation as prime minister, his successor Fumio Kishida opted to retain Motegi as foreign minister after taking office in October 2021. ''Nikkei'' noted that this sent a message of continuity in Japan's policies toward China and Taiwan. He was appointed Secretary-General of the LDP by LDP leader Fumio Kishida after the resignation of the previous incumbent

Akira Amari is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and a former member of the House of Representatives of Japan, lower house. Personal life Amari is a native of Atsugi, Kanagawa, where he attende ...

following the 2021 general elections. He leads one of the main factions of the LDP party and is rumored to be a potential contender to become prime minister. The relationship between Motegi and Prime Minister Kishida has been described as extremely strained. Motegi has been described as intensely passionate in his attempt to succeed Kishida as prime minister, and Kishida has dedicated a significant amount of time to disrupting him; with factionalism now in peril due to the 2023–2024 Japanese slush fund scandal, Motegi's future within the party has been described as possibly in danger. Kishida has also allegedly been dedicating time to blocking Motegi from attempting to pursue his ambition further. Motegi ran in the 2024 LDP Presidential election to succeed Kishida but only won 6.39% of the votes in the first round. Only a few cabinet posts were given to members of his faction, the Heisei Kenkyūkai; this was seen as punishment for Motegi backing Sanae Takaichi against

Shigeru Ishiba Shigeru Ishiba (born 4 February 1957) is a Japanese politician who has served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2024. He has been a member of ...

in the second round of the LDP presidential election.

References