Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Saturday he will not hold an in-person meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on his way back to Japan from South America, despite his earlier desire to do so.

Speaking to reporters in Lima, Peru, Ishiba said Trump's team explained that the president-elect, who has received numerous requests for meetings from world leaders, cannot hold talks with them before taking office due to legal constraints.

Ishiba said, "I hope to hold talks with him at the most convenient, earliest possible time for both," expressing his eagerness to arrange a meeting following Trump's inauguration in January.

During a phone call in early November, Ishiba and Trump agreed to work together to elevate the bilateral alliance, with the prime minister telling reporters that he "got the impression" the president-elect is "friendly" and a person he "can speak honestly with."

Ishiba, who is on an eight-day trip for the summits of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru and the Group of 20 economies in Brazil, had explored the possibility of stopping in the United States afterward for a meeting with Trump.

Amid challenges such as China's growing military assertiveness and North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs, Ishiba has emphasized that the Japan-U.S. alliance is the "top priority" for his government's foreign and security policies.

On Friday in Lima, he held a brief meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and hailed the alliance as being stronger than ever.

Ishiba, who succeeded Fumio Kishida as prime minister on Oct. 1, is eager to establish a personal relationship with Trump, who had a rapport with then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his first term as president starting in 2017.

Shortly after the November 2016 presidential election, Abe rushed to Trump Tower in New York to meet with the president-elect and presented him with a golden golf club, paving the way to deepen their friendship. Both were avid golfers.

Abe, who resigned in 2020 for health reasons, was fatally shot during an election campaign speech in 2021.