Japan scraps U.S. meeting after Washington demands more defense spending: report
FILE PHOTO: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba gives his opening speech at the beginning of the meeting with US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at his office in Tokyo. March 30, 2025. Stanislav Kogiku/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Japan has canceled a regular high-level meeting with its key ally the United States after the Trump administration demanded it spend more on defense, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had been expected to meet Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in Washington on July 1 for the annual 2+2 security talks.
But Tokyo scrapped the meeting after the U.S. asked Japan to boost defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product, higher than an earlier request of 3%, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported on Saturday that President Donald Trump's government was demanding that its Asian allies, including Japan, spend 5% of GDP on defense.
A U.S. official who asked not to be identified told Reuters that Japan had "postponed" the talks in a decision made several weeks ago. The official did not cite a reason. A non-government source familiar with the issue said he had also heard Japan had pulled out of the meeting but not the reason for it doing so.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said she had no comment on the FT report when asked about it at regular briefing. The Pentagon also had no immediate comment.
Japan's embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. The nation's foreign and defense ministries and the Prime Minister's Office did not answer phone calls seeking comment outside business hours on Saturday.
The FT said the higher spending demand was made in recent weeks by Elbridge Colby, the third-most senior Pentagon official, who has also recently upset another key U.S. ally in the Indo-Pacific by launching a review of a project to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.
In March, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that other nations do not decide Japan's defense budget after Colby, in his nomination hearing to be under secretary of defense for policy, called for Tokyo to spend more to counter China.
Japan and other U.S. allies have been engaged in difficult trade talks with the United States over President Donald Trump's worldwide tariff offensive.
The FT said the decision to cancel the July 1 meeting was also related to Japan's July 20 upper house elections, expected to be a major test for Ishiba's minority coalition government.
Japan's move on the 2+2 comes ahead of a meeting of the U.S.-led NATO alliance in Europe next week, at which Trump is expected to press his demand that European allies boost their defense spending to 5% of GDP.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yomiuri Shimbun
30 minutes ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Harley-Davidson Japan to Be Fined for Unfair Trade Practices; Company Enriched Itself by Setting Overly High Sales Quotas for Dealers
The Japan Fair Trade Commission has decided to issue a cease and desist order against Harley-Davidson Japan K.K. (HDJ), a Tokyo-based motorcycle sales company, for unfair trade practices in violation of the antimonopoly law, sources report. According to the sources, HDJ unilaterally imposed difficult-to-meet sales quotas on dealers, a practice which was detrimental to them. The JFTC is also expected to issue a surcharge payment order of about ¥200 million. Harley-Davidson is the leading manufacturer of large motorcycles in the United States, with some models costing over ¥5 million. HDJ, its Japanese subsidiary, has an exclusive distribution agreement with about 90 dealers in Japan. The sources say that no later than January 2023, HDJ began saddling dozens of dealers with sales quotas that they could not meet without purchasing new motorcycles from themselves. HDJ also indicated that it would not renew the dealers' exclusive sales contracts if they did not at least partially meet these quotas. The dealers, not wanting their contracts to be terminated, bought new motorcycles in the names of their own executives and employees to drive up their sales numbers. It is believed that the purchased vehicles were registered in the names of the executives and others and resold as 'registered unused vehicles' at discount prices lower than those of new vehicles. Some dealers spent tens of millions of yen a year buying their own motorcycles. The JFTC found that HDJ used its strong position to gain profits for itself at the dealers' expense, and that such practices legally constituted 'abuse of a superior bargaining position.' It has already sent HDJ a plan for measures to be taken and will formally issue the order after hearing HDJ's opinion.
Asahi Shimbun
38 minutes ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Survey: Majority of big companies feel economy is at a ‘standstill'
Supermarket employees display bags of stockpiled rice released by the central government on May 31 in Tokyo's Ota Ward. (Tatsuo Kanai) Fifty-seven of 100 major Japanese companies believe the domestic economy is 'at a standstill,' the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic for a majority to feel that way, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed. The figure represents an increase of 16 companies from the previous survey in July 2024. The latest 100-company survey was conducted from June 6 to 19. The last time more than 50 responding companies said the economy was at a standstill was in spring 2021, during the crisis over the novel coronavirus. The number of companies in the latest survey that say the economy is 'moderately receding' was nine, up six from the 2024 survey. Only 33 companies feel the economy is 'moderately expanding,' a significant decrease from 53 in the 2024 survey. And zero companies believe the economy is 'significantly expanding,' the same as in the previous survey. When asked to choose up to two reasons for their evaluations, 'consumer spending' was selected by 54 companies, followed by 'capital investment' by 28 and 'wages' by 25. 'Wage growth has not kept pace with the sustained rise in prices of food, energy and other items, and households are saving money,' Makoto Tani, chairman of Skylark Holdings Co., said. The survey also found that the most common concern for Japan's economy is 'intensifying trade friction, including tariffs,' cited by 65 companies, followed by 'sluggish personal consumption,' selected by 41. 'If trade friction intensifies, it could put pressure on corporate profits and cause employment uncertainty,' Shinichiro Funabiki, president of MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings Inc., said. 'There are concerns that this could lead to a decline in domestic consumption and investment stagnation, contributing to a slowdown in the overall economy.' Teiichi Goto, president of Fujifilm Holdings Corp., said, 'The future of tariff negotiations with the U.S. remains uncertain, and depending on the outcome, there could be a negative impact.' The majority of survey respondents also take a cautious view of the global economy. Sixty-one said the world economy is 'stagnant,' up 17 from the previous survey, while 18 believe the global economy is 'moderately decelerating.' Two companies said it was 'solidly decelerating,' compared with zero in the previous survey. Among the optimists, 15 companies feel the global economy is 'moderately expanding,' and one responded that it is 'solidly expanding.' Eighty companies said the biggest threat to the global economy is 'tariff action by the U.S. Trump administration.' And half of the 100 companies said they are concerned about the outlook for the U.S. economy. 'The uncertainty caused by the U.S. tariff policy is covering the entire world,' said Toru Nakashima, CEO of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. 'Excessive pessimism is being corrected, but the economy remains unpredictable with significant downside risks.' Six companies cited 'the impact of international conflicts and terrorism in the Middle East and elsewhere' as a concern for the global economy.
Nikkei Asia
an hour ago
- Nikkei Asia
Trump tariff tracker: the latest on US levies affecting Asia
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One after departing early from the G7 summit in Canada to return to Washington, June 17. © Reuters GRACE LI TOKYO -- U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs on nations around the world in the first months of his second term to revive American manufacturing, rattling Asian economies that rely heavily on exports for prosperity. The unilateral U.S. moves -- which include country-by-country blanket levies known as "reciprocal" tariffs, and duties on specific items such as steel and automobiles -- are causing major disruptions to the global economy, where close links in supply chains have become the norm for doing business.
