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▼ Japan Feels The Pain Of An Ally Like Trump
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Trump worries Japan with his hardball trade tactics and friendship with Kim Jong Un.
BIARRITZ, France — Japan handed Donald Trump a big trade win on Sunday, but did so through gritted teeth as the U.S. president pushes the most important strategic alliance in northeast Asia to its limits.
If it weren't enough that Trump bludgeoned his way to Sunday's trade accord by threatening sky-high tariffs on Japanese carmakers, Tokyo is also now wrestling with an American president who takes an alarmingly cavalier view of the U.S.-Japanese military alliance that underpins security on the Korean peninsula.
Only hours before announcing the U.S.-Japan trade deal, Trump had an embarrassingly public falling out with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzō Abe over whether North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un had broken international law with recent missile launches. It was a dialogue that no Japanese leader could have imagined possible over the past seven decades.
Trump said that he is "not happy" about Kim's missile tests, but argued that the North Korean leader was "not in violation" of international law. He then added that he had received a "nice letter" from Kim that he was upset about South Korean military exercises.
Abe promptly shot back: "Our position is very clear that the launch of short-range ballistic missiles by North Korea clearly violates the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions."
"Trade wars will lead to recession, while trade deals will boost the economy" — Donald Tusk, European Council president
Unimpressed, Trump said that he understands how the Japanese prime minister feels, but played down the significance of short-range tests. "A lot of people are testing those missiles, not just him. A lot of people are testing those missiles. We’re in the world of missiles, folks, whether you like it or not.”
That was hardly music to the ears of the Japanese, who see nuclear-armed North Korea as their key strategic problem, and the U.S. is supposed to be their most loyal ally in combatting the dynasty of the Kims.
BIARRITZ, France — Japan handed Donald Trump a big trade win on Sunday, but did so through gritted teeth as the U.S. president pushes the most important strategic alliance in northeast Asia to its limits.
If it weren't enough that Trump bludgeoned his way to Sunday's trade accord by threatening sky-high tariffs on Japanese carmakers, Tokyo is also now wrestling with an American president who takes an alarmingly cavalier view of the U.S.-Japanese military alliance that underpins security on the Korean peninsula.
Only hours before announcing the U.S.-Japan trade deal, Trump had an embarrassingly public falling out with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzō Abe over whether North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un had broken international law with recent missile launches. It was a dialogue that no Japanese leader could have imagined possible over the past seven decades.
Trump said that he is "not happy" about Kim's missile tests, but argued that the North Korean leader was "not in violation" of international law. He then added that he had received a "nice letter" from Kim that he was upset about South Korean military exercises.
Abe promptly shot back: "Our position is very clear that the launch of short-range ballistic missiles by North Korea clearly violates the relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions."
"Trade wars will lead to recession, while trade deals will boost the economy" — Donald Tusk, European Council president
Unimpressed, Trump said that he understands how the Japanese prime minister feels, but played down the significance of short-range tests. "A lot of people are testing those missiles, not just him. A lot of people are testing those missiles. We’re in the world of missiles, folks, whether you like it or not.”
That was hardly music to the ears of the Japanese, who see nuclear-armed North Korea as their key strategic problem, and the U.S. is supposed to be their most loyal ally in combatting the dynasty of the Kims.
- August 26, 2019
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