
Japan PM's NATO no-show a shot across Trump's bow
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has sent a clear signal to the Trump administration: the Japan–US relationship is in a dire state.
After saying just days ago he would be attending this week's NATO summit at The Hague, Ishiba abruptly pulled out at the last minute.
He joins two other leaders from the Indo-Pacific region, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, in skipping the summit.
The Japanese media reported Ishiba canceled the trip because a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump was unlikely, as was a meeting of the Indo-Pacific Four (IP4) NATO partners (Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan).
Japan will still be represented by Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, showing its desire to strengthen its security relationship with NATO.
However, Ishiba's no-show reveals how Japan views its relationship with the Trump administration, following the severe tariffs Washington imposed on Japan and Trump's mixed messages on the countries' decades-long military alliance.
Trump's tariff policy is at the core of the divide between the US and Japan.
Ishiba attempted to get relations with the Trump administration off to a good start. He was the second world leader to visit Trump at the White House, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariffs imposed a punitive rate of 25% on Japanese cars and 24% on all other Japanese imports. They are already having an adverse impact on Japan's economy: exports of automobiles to the US dropped in May by 25% compared to a year ago.
Six rounds of negotiations have made little progress, as Ishiba's government insists on full tariff exemptions.
Japan has been under pressure from the Trump administration to increase its defence spending, as well. According to the Financial Times, Tokyo canceled a summit between US and Japanese defense and foreign ministers over the demand. (A Japanese official denied the report.)
Japan also did not offer its full support to the US bombings of Iran's nuclear facilities earlier this week. The foreign minister instead said Japan 'understands' the US's determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Japan has traditionally had fairly good relations with Iran, often acting as an indirect bridge with the West. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe even made a visit there in 2019.
Japan also remains heavily dependent on oil from the Middle East. It would have been adversely affected if the Strait of Hormuz had been blocked, as Iran was threatening to do.
Unlike the response from the UK and Australia, which both supported the strikes, the Ishiba government prioritised its commitment to upholding international law and the rules-based global order. In doing so, Japan seeks to deny China, Russia and North Korea any leeway to similarly erode global norms on the use of force and territorial aggression.
In addition, Japan is facing the same dilemma as other American allies – how to manage relations with the 'America First' Trump administration, which has made the US an unreliable ally.
Earlier this year, Trump criticised the decades-old security alliance between the US and Japan, calling it 'one-sided.'
'If we're ever attacked, they don't have to do a thing to protect us,' he said of Japan.
Lower-level security cooperation is ongoing between the two allies and their regional partners. The US, Japanese and Philippine Coast Guards conducted drills in Japanese waters this week. The US military may also assist with upgrading Japan's counterstrike missile capabilities.
But Japan is still likely to continue expanding its security ties with partners beyond the US, such as NATO, the European Union, India, the Philippines, Vietnam and other ASEAN members, while maintaining its fragile rapprochement with South Korea.
Australia is now arguably Japan's most reliable security partner. Canberra is considering buying Japan's Mogami-class frigates for the Royal Australian Navy. And if the AUKUS agreement with the US and UK collapses, Japanese submarines could be a replacement.
There are also intensifying domestic political pressures on Ishiba to hold firm against Trump, who is deeply unpopular among the Japanese public.
After replacing former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) last September, the party lost its majority in the lower house of parliament in snap elections. This made it dependent on minor parties for legislative support.
Ishiba's minority government has struggled ever since with poor opinion polling. There has been widespread discontent with inflation, the high cost of living and stagnant wages, the legacy of LDP political scandals, and ever-worsening geopolitical uncertainty.
On Sunday, the party suffered its worst-ever result in elections for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, winning its lowest number of seats.
The party could face a similar drubbing in the election for half of the upper house of the Diet (Japan's parliament) on July 20. Ishiba has pledged to maintain the LDP's majority in the House with its junior coalition partner Komeito. But if the government falls into minority status in both houses, Ishiba will face heavy pressure to step down.
Craig Mark is adjunct lecturer, Faculty of Economics, Hosei University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


RTHK
6 hours ago
- RTHK
Iran holds state funeral for top brass slain in war
Iran holds state funeral for top brass slain in war People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes. Photo: Reuters Iran held a state funeral on Saturday for some 60 scientists and commanders killed in its war with Israel, after its top diplomat condemned the latest White House tirade against supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. State television aired footage of thousands of black-clad mourners chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" as they held aloft photographs of the dead. "Boom, boom, Tel Aviv," read one banner, referring to the retaliatory missile fire launched by Iran against Israel during their 12-day war. State television showed mock-ups of ballistic missiles like those Iran fired at Israel alongside coffins draped in Iranian flags. President Masoud Pezeshkian attended the ceremony as did Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Khamenei who used a walking cane after being wounded in an Israeli strike in the war, the television images showed. But the supreme leader himself stayed away. Khamenei had delivered a video address on Thursday to proclaim "victory" in the conflict which ended with a truce earlier this week. As the funeral procession wound its way across the spawling metropolis, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi paid tribute to the war effort in a post on his Instagram account. "Iranians gave blood, not land; gave their loved ones, not honour; they withstood a thousand-ton rain of bombs, but did not surrender," the top diplomat said, adding that Iran does not recognise the word "surrender." Among the dead was armed forces chief of staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri, who will be buried with his wife and journalist daughter who were killed alongside him. Nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, also killed in the attacks, will be laid to rest with his wife. Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami, killed on the first day of the war, will be buried on Sunday. Of the 60 people who are to be laid to rest after the ceremony, four are children and four are women. (AFP)


RTHK
18 hours ago
- RTHK
Iran condemns Trump's comments on Khamenei
Iran condemns Trump's comments on Khamenei Donald Trump claims that he had been working on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran. Photo: Reuters Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned on Saturday the "disrespectful and unacceptable" comments from Donald Trump, after the US president claimed to have saved Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from an "ugly and ignominious death". "If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran's Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Khamenei, and stop hurting his millions of heartfelt supporters," Araghchi posted on his account on social media platform X. "The Great and Powerful Iranian People, who showed the world that the Israeli regime had NO CHOICE but to RUN to 'Daddy' to avoid being flattened by our Missiles, do not take kindly to Threats and Insults," the foreign minister said. The United States carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, with no consensus as to how effective they were. With those strikes, Washington joined Israel's bombardments of Iran's nuclear programme in the 12-day conflict launched on June 13. The foreign minister's condemnation on Saturday came after Trump said on his Truth Social platform that he had saved the Iranian leader from assassination, accusing Khamenei of ingratitude. "I knew EXACTLY where he was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the U.S. Armed Forces, by far the Greatest and Most Powerful in the World, terminate his life," Trump posted. "I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH, and he does not have to say, 'THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!'" Trump also said that he had been working in recent days on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran, one of Tehran's main demands. "But no, instead I get hit with a statement of anger, hatred, and disgust, and immediately dropped all work on sanction relief, and more," Trump added, exhorting Iran to return to the negotiating table. Iran has denied it is set to resume nuclear talks with the United States, after Trump said that negotiations would begin again next week. (AFP)


RTHK
20 hours ago
- RTHK
US stocks end at records
US stocks end at records The records reflect improved sentiment, with the Iran-Israel ceasefire adding to positive movement on trade compared with the spring. Photo: Reuters Wall Street stocks finished at fresh records on Friday as China-US trade progress restored the market to its heights prior to a spring swoon brought by President Donald Trump's tariffs. Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at all-time highs following a roller-coaster session that included a stint in negative territory after Trump announced he was breaking off trade talks with Canada, rupturing a series of largely positive headlines on trade. The broad-based S&P 500 finished up 0.5 percent at 6,173, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index also climbed 0.5 percent to 20,273. Both represent fresh closing records. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped one percent to 43,819. Earlier, European stock markets also rose, with the Paris CAC 40 leading the way, boosted by a rise in luxury stocks. The records reflect improved sentiment, with the Iran-Israel ceasefire adding to positive movement on trade compared with the spring. "There is hope in the market, there may be some over-optimism around some things," said Jason Schenker of Prestige Economics. "But there was a lot of optimism." Tom Cahill, chief investment officer at Ventura Wealth Management said other trade news developments in recent days had been positive, including Beijing and Washington's confirmation on finalising a framework to move forward on trade. "The news has been incrementally more positive since April on the trade front," Cahill said. The S&P 500 last hit a record in February, but began to come under pressure thereafter as Trump began to sharpen his rhetoric on trade. This culminated with Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" vow to implement steep new levies on trading partners. Trump has since suspended the most onerous elements of his trade overhaul, while still implementing the biggest US tariffs imposed in decades. (AFP)