If U.S. President Donald Trump can defy current public opinion polls and win re-election, his return to the White House will add urgency to the need for Japan to re-examine its security and economic relationships with other countries as Washington grows more isolated.
“If Trump is re-elected, I think there are two different ways this will impact Japan,” said James Schoff, a former senior Pentagon East Asia specialist now with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “One is at a macro level of America’s political and economic health, and the other is at a more micro level of policy choices that Japan cares about.”
Among the policy issues likely to cause the most consternation in Tokyo in a second Trump term are negotiations over the amount Japan contributes to support U.S. forces stationed in the country and Washington’s increasingly acrimonious ties with Beijing.