TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan is working to arrange a trip for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to the United States before mid-February for talks with incoming President Donald Trump, government sources said Sunday.

To lay the groundwork for the summit with the leader of Japan's most important ally, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said the same day he will attend Trump's inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20 and explore a meeting with Sen. Marco Rubio, who has been nominated for U.S. secretary of state and is awaiting Senate confirmation.

"We would like to first build a relationship of trust" with the incoming Trump administration, Iwaya said on public broadcaster NHK.

It is rare for Japan to send its foreign minister to a U.S. presidential inauguration as the nation is usually represented by its ambassador in Washington.

Japan, the United States, Australia and India, which together form a grouping called the Quad, are arranging to hold a meeting of their top diplomats in the United States on Jan. 21, according to a Japanese government source.

Ishiba said in a separate TV program aired Sunday that he hopes to meet Trump "as early as possible and at an appropriate time." The program was recorded Wednesday.

The Japanese prime minister, who took office in October, at one point considered meeting Trump in mid-January before his second term begins. Trump will succeed President Joe Biden.

But he now is focused on a visit in February, with some government officials seeing a formal summit as more beneficial than rushing an earlier meeting.

When the summit is held, Ishiba will aim to reaffirm the importance of the Japan-U.S. alliance and likely exchange views on Nippon Steel Corp.'s aspirations to acquire United States Steel Corp., a deal which was blocked by Biden earlier this month and is also opposed by Trump.

After serving for four years through January 2021, Trump will return to the White House pledging to continue his "America First" policy platform, which is skeptical of multilateralism.

The Republican takes a transactional approach to dealings with America's longstanding allies and could prompt an escalation of trade friction with China through higher tariffs.