Japan and the US are essential defence allies and each other’s leading foreign financiers

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday left for the United States ahead of what will be President Donald Trump’s second top with a foreign leader considering that his return to the White House.

Japan is one of the closest allies of the United States in Asia with around 54,000 US military workers stationed in the nation.

Ishiba will be pressing for peace of mind on the value of the US-Japan alliance, as Trump’s “America First” program risks intruding on the nations’ trade and defence ties.

“It would be wonderful if we could verify that we will interact for the development this region and the world and for peace,” Ishiba told reporters in Tokyo before leaving for pipewiki.org the trip.

Japan’s Nikkei newspaper said Thursday the pair will release a joint declaration, which might vow to build a “golden age” of bilateral relations and bring the alliance to “new heights”.

Ishiba is anticipated to tell Trump that Japan will increase defence purchases from the United States, the Nikkei said.

Ishiba may likewise propose importing more US natural gas-- chiming with Trump’s strategy to “drill, child, drill” while improving energy security for resource-poor Japan.

Since Japan has cut its melted gas (LNG) imports from Russia, drapia.org it “frantically requires to open up brand-new sources of LNG, and other energy more broadly”, Sheila Smith, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP.

“The objective is to provide a win-win value proposal from Ishiba to the president,” she said.

Trump will meet Ishiba in Washington on Friday-- just days after a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where the US president triggered outcry with a proposal to take over the .

The Japan top could be less startling, Smith said, as Trump “has a fairly strong commitment to the alliances in Asia”.

- Taiwan risk -

Ishiba has actually worried the value of US defence ties, pointing to threats on Japan’s doorstep such as China pressing its claims of sovereignty on the self-ruled island of Taiwan.

Tokyo needs to “continue to secure the US commitment to the region, to prevent a power vacuum causing local instability”, Ishiba just recently informed parliament.

Trump and Ishiba are expected to verify the significance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese media said.

That would echo joint statements made by the last US president Joe Biden with previous Japanese prime ministers.

Concentrating on this point is “incredibly important” because Japan and setiathome.berkeley.edu the United States must collaborate to prevent a potential crisis, said Takashi Shiraishi, an international relations expert at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto.

As Japan and the United States renegotiate how to share the concern of defence costs, nevertheless, there are concerns Trump might offer less money and push Japan to do more, Smith said.

“That’s where … the Ishiba-Trump relationship could get a bit sticky,” she said.

- After Abe -

Also triggering jitters is Trump’s willingness to slap trade tariffs on major trading partners China, Canada, and Mexico-- though he has postponed steps against the latter two countries pending talks.

“I hope Ishiba will show him there are other methods to attain financial security,” such as complying on technology, Shiraishi told AFP.

One example is the Stargate drive, announced after Trump’s January inauguration, to invest as much as $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States, led by Japanese tech financial investment leviathan SoftBank Group and US firm OpenAI.

Reports said the leaders could also talk about Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion bid to buy US Steel, which Biden blocked on nationwide security grounds.

Japan and the United States are each other’s leading foreign financiers, and the Nikkei reported that the leaders will concur on creating an investment-friendly environment.

During his very first term, Trump and Japan’s then-prime minister Shinzo Abe enjoyed warm relations.

As president-elect in December, pipewiki.org Trump likewise hosted Akie Abe, the widow of Japan’s assassinated ex-premier, for a dinner with Melania Trump at their Florida home.

Trump constructed a strong relationship with Abe, for whom Smith thinks he had a “genuine fondness”.

He will likely “see Ishiba through a different lens”, said Smith, drapia.org and “it will be more the state-to-state relationship, not the personal”.

Ishiba, 68, wiki.vst.hs-furtwangen.de will not be the very first Japanese VIP to meet the 78-year-old Trump face to face considering that he took workplace-- a distinction held by SoftBank creator Masayoshi Son.