Trump has mixed feelings towards Japan

This month in the garden of roses at the White House, while carrying a sign showing the global wave of the definitions he wanted to impose, President Trump temporarily stopped to remember a friend who fell.

“The Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo – Shinzo Abe – was a great man.

Words of praise for Mr. Abe, who was He was shot three years ago During the campaign’s letter, Mr. Trump did not prevent a 24 percent tariff for products imported from Japan. But they were unusual, however, from a president who has a few gentle things he says these days about the other allies, especially Canada and Europe.

Now, Japan will be one of the first countries allowed to bargain for its potential stopping from Mr. Trump’s sweeping tariff, many of which made for 90 days. On Thursday, the negotiator chosen by the current Prime Minister in Japan is scheduled to start talks in Washington with Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessin and others.

Japan’s place in the front of the line reflects the different approach that Mr. Trump followed towards the nation. While the president still accuses her of unfair commercial policies and an unequal security relationship, he praises it at the same time as a close ally, an old culture and smart negotiator.

“I love Japan,” Mr. Trump told reporters last month. “But we have an interesting deal with Japan, where we have to protect it, but they do not have to protect us,” referring to the security treaty based on 50,000 American military personnel in Japan.

Japan maintains a special situation, if not always fond of, in the thinking of Mr. Trump. Its economic rise in the eighties of the last century constituted his current views of global trade, including his passion for definitions. Some observers say that the president has maintained a relationship of love of love with Japan that leads him to criticize the country while also admiring-and discovers in complimenting its new leaders.

Glenn said. Fukushima, a former American commercial official who saw relations between the United States of Japan for more than four decades: “Trump’s behavior towards Japan seems completely contradictory, but in reality it is very constant.” “He has a lot of admiration and respect for Japan, who is believed to be really shrewd in Hoodwinking for the Americans.”

On Wednesday, the President suspended the widest customs tariff after the decline in financial markets, Japan is still facing a 10 percent new tariff imposed by Mr. Trump on most imports to America. Late Friday, the White House Its conditions are modified again By sparing smartphones, computers, semi -conductors and other electronics from customs tariffs. However, there are also higher fees for steel and aluminum and 25 percent A tariff on cars, That can hit the Japanese economy severely.

Japan’s reaction was to feel betrayal and confusion over the definitions, which targeted both friends and enemies of America. After the failed diplomatic efforts to win Japan’s exemption, Chigero Ishiba, the current Prime Minister, announced the definitions as a “national crisis”.

But at the same time, Mr. Trump gave Japan more distinctive treatment. When Mr. Ishiba wanted to discuss a possible deal to reduce the definitions, Mr. Trump received the invitation.

“He spoke to the Japanese Prime Minister this morning. He is sending a big team to negotiate!” Mr. Trump wrote on Monday on the social media platform. It is true that the president immediately moved to a complaint stating that Japan “dealt with the United States is very badly on trade.”

“They do not take our cars, but we take millions of them,” he wrote.

Although the elimination of the face is not unusual for Mr. Trump’s style outside the cuff, his divided view of Japan deepens, and extends to his early days as a real estate developer in Manhattan. Until then, he talked about Japan as a standard customer of his buildings and a source of financing for new deals, while also moving with an unequal trade balance.

“America is tearing”, Mr. Trump He said in an interview In 1988, “We are a debtor nation, and we have to harm, we must target, we have to protect this country.”

In 2016, these attitudes helped to be victorious among the voters with disappointment with globalization. But before the installation of Mr. Trump, Mr. Abe He was the first global leader to visit the elected president in the Trump tower, where Mr. Trump’s victory in the elections applauded and gave him a gold -plated golf club. Mr. Trump, who was still seen by other world leaders, did not forget the gesture, Shinsuke J. SugiyamaWho was the ambassador of Japan in the United States during the first Trump administration.

Mr. Sujayama said: “Abe risked being the first world leader to visit him.” “This gave Trump a completely different picture of Japan.”

The current Prime Minister in Japan tried to use the same playing book during the second Trump administration, but with mixed results. The widow of Mr. Abe, Aki Abe, a dinner with Mr. Trump and Melania Trump in January at President Mar Lajo resort in Florida.

A month later, Mr. Ishiba became one of the first heads of state to visit Mr. Trump at the White House, where he played Japan’s huge investments in American business and industry. He also mentioned the attempt to assassinate July 2024 to Mr. Trump, who told the US President, “I have chosen God.”

Mr. Ishiba has received a priority to Mr. Trump for his negotiation, a close political ally of his name Riosi AkazawaThose who will likely pledge to buy more American foods, weapons and energy. Mr. Ishiba hopes to be able to provide enough to win by exempting the tariff of Mr. Trump.

“By being the first to bend a knee, Abe allowed Trump to say,” Look, Japan was laughing at us, but now that I was in power, they came to see me. ” Jennifer M. MillerHistorian of relations between the United States of Japan at Dartmouth College. “Ishiba hopes that the old play book will work.”