Trump says Tokyo agreed to buy U.S. defense gear, clashing with Japan's account
Touting the surprise trade agreement with Japan on social media, the U.S. president claimed Wednesday that Tokyo 'had agreed to buy BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF MILITARY AND OTHER EQUIPMENT."
His comments came a day after Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, told reporters in Washington that the new trade deal "does not include anything related to defense spending." Media reports quoting sources close to the talks also said that security issues had not been part of the trade discussions.
It was not immediately clear if Trump was referring to pending arms deals with Tokyo. The U.S. has over $20 billion in active government-to-government sales cases with Japan under its Foreign Military Sales system as of January, U.S. State Department data shows. These purchases include advanced F-35 stealth fighters and Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Japan acquires more than 90% of its defense imports from the United States and has expressed growing interest in even more advanced and interoperable technology as part of its 2022 Defense Buildup Program.
The U.S. president has long taken a transactional view of what he says are Washington's 'unfair' alliances, issuing demands and threats during his first term and into his second that allies Japan and South Korea shoulder a larger security burden — or risk his ire.
Tokyo, however, had been largely successful in fending off calls by Trump and his team to link security issues — including defense spending and host-nation support for the 54,000 U.S. troops in Japan — to the tariff negotiations.
Just hours ahead of the first round of U.S.-Japan tariff negotiations in April, Trump claimed that 'the cost of military support' would be part of the talks. Although the move spooked Tokyo, the issue was effectively shelved after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his team repeatedly emphasized that the two issues must be dealt with separately while pointing to Japan's own unprecedented defense spending hike — to 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027.
But that didn't stop Trump's Pentagon from setting a 'global standard' for Japan and other U.S. allies to spend 5% of GDP on defense.
Indeed, even if defense was not a part of the trade deal — implicit or otherwise — the issue is sure to become a focus of future bilateral talks.
Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said in April that Tokyo 'intends to continue discussions on an appropriate track starting next year' on a cost-sharing agreement for hosting U.S. troops in Japan before its expiration in 2027.
Japanese defense planners, meanwhile, are already weighing the possibility of even further boosted defense spending. A Defense Ministry panel of experts has reportedly recommended that the government consider hiking defense spending beyond 2%, and Ishiba has said that future budgets "may top 2%, if needed,' depending on the security environment.
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2 hours ago
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