Japan's chief tariff negotiator slammed for MAGA cap photo with Trump
The leader of Japan's main opposition party on Wednesday lambasted the country's chief negotiator on U.S. tariffs for taking a photo with President Donald Trump while wearing a red "Make America Great Again" cap presented to him in Washington.
Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa, who is responsible for the tariff issue, "crossed a line," said Noda, chief of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, during a one-on-one parliamentary debate with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
"It looked like tributary diplomacy and sent a very negative message," Noda said, urging Akazawa, a close aide to Ishiba, to have the U.S. side put on a cap reading "Make Japan Great Again" in the next round of negotiations, expected to be held later this month.
Ishiba defended Akazawa, saying, "Given the national interest as a whole, he responded in the best way he could," stressing that he has not questioned the minister's actions as shown in a White House photo, in which he gives a thumbs-up while wearing the red cap.
Akazawa met with Trump last week in the U.S. capital for tariff talks. Amid growing criticism over his donning of a MAGA cap, commonly worn by Trump's supporters at rallies, the minister said during a Diet session that he did so without any "political message."
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