The unilateral imposition of duties was something Japan had hoped its unique relationship with the US would help it avoid. When that failed, the consensus view was that Tokyo would secure an agreement rather quickly.
Instead, Japan’s chief negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, has been traipsing back and forth to the US, most recently this weekend, with the two sides still seemingly far apart – not helped by lack of agreement on the US side over what it even wants.
Surprisingly, Japan has dug its heels in, insisting on a full climbdown on auto tariffs and cautioning it won’t take a bad deal just to reach a quick one. Domestic media reports suggested an agreement between the two leaders at the Group of Seven in Canada was near, only for Trump to depart early and Ishiba to return home empty-handed.
Compounding this is a growing gap in views on defence. Japan lobbied hard to keep trade and security as two separate issues. But then it cancelled the “two-plus-two” security talks between the defence and diplomatic heads, according to the Financial Times, which cited Tokyo’s displeasure with a request from the US to further raise its spending on national security.
How much that figure might be isn’t clear. Japan has denied that the US is looking for higher spending, but in recent weeks reports have suggested Washington is looking for Tokyo to spend anywhere from 3 per cent to 5 per cent of gross domestic product, with NATO leaders last week agreeing to the higher figure after pressure from Trump.
But Japan is already struggling to hit its prior 2 per cent commitment, much less finance it. And most problematically, Ishiba has long stated his opposition to any numerical target, arguing it’s more important to define what the money is spent on. The prime minister also scrapped plans to attend NATO meeting in The Hague.
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