Japan is not alone in its desire to warm up to Donald Trump
Donald Trump described the partial US-Japan trade agreement as a “very large trade deal.”” He even called it a “tremendous deal.”” The first agreement is a boost to the US president’s ongoing trade war against China as well as his reelection bid.
The US has secured preferential access for US agricultural products to the Japanese market. This will provide an outlet for goods that have been affected by China’s retaliatory duties and is a reason why many US farmers are voting for Trump in 2020.
Japan is enjoying a reprieve from automobile tariffs. But there’s not much to show for it. This is a pattern that has been repeated: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, since Trump’s surprise victory in 2016, has done everything he can to accommodate Trump. He is not the only leader who has done this.
Analysis of the responses from world leaders to Trump’s election casts doubt on the idea that the US is seriously in decline. The story of the US decline is told in a variety of ways, including the idea that a rising China will challenge the US or that the global US-led liberal order will collapse. All of these narratives see Trump’s victory as both a sign and cause of the US empire’s decline.
Does Trump’s victory really mean that the US is waging a war against the dying light? Trump’s foreign policy and the international response indicate that the US is still the most powerful country in the world.
He has changed the rules of engagement with US allies. He uses blackmail and threats to get his friends to give the US a “better deal” while cozying up to dictators. While he is cozying up to dictators, he uses threats and blackmail to get friends to give the US “a better deal.”
Abe’s dilemma
US-Japan security has been described by some as a “cornerstone.”” The US provides Japan with protection so that Tokyo can focus on its economy. Meanwhile, the US gains strategic bases throughout the Japanese archipelago to enable it to project force throughout East Asia and beyond.
Trump, in his 2016 presidential campaign, accused Japan of freeriding, and promised to renegotiate the agreement. He threatened to reduce US forces in the region, while demanding that Japan or South Korea increase their efforts to manage national security. This is despite the fact that both countries are among the top ten spenders on military equipment. He suggested that they create nuclear weapons.
In Japan, Trump’s actions triggered an old fear of abandonment. To confirm this, his first act as president , was to withdraw from Trans-Pacific Partnership, a regional trade agreement that included Japan. This was aimed at strengthening US relations in the region and countering China’s growing influence.
Since then, Japan has also been collateral damaged by the US-China Trade War, which caused the yen’s appreciation, dampening Japanese imports and the nation’s economic outlook. Trump was determined to reach a bilateral agreement with Japan in order to mitigate the impact of the trade conflict on the American economy. Japan, however, was reluctant to sign the bilateral free-trade deal with Japan. Instead, it preferred to save the multilateral TPP framework.
In March 2018, Trump increased the pressure by introducing tariffs on aluminum and steel, targeting key US trade partners such as Japan and Germany. While Japan was granted some steel waivers, not all Japanese steelmakers were able to access them.