Japan-U.S. ties in deep uncertainty as Trump enters 3rd year in office

I am not worried about our relation with U.S. We are still a strong fan of U.S. and not of China, Russia and Korea.

Oh come on, "everyone" was praising Abe here for running across the ocean to "teach" Trump about how things were in the world! And his being the "king" of summits and what not! Now there is uncertainty?

As many have said here as well, Trump does things his way, and folks had better get used to it, at least for the next two years!

Regardless of small differences, USA and Japan will always remain Number one allies in the world.

Trump did a great job warning people about dangers of trading with ambitious China. U.S. handed over their technologies and let them ride free the trade system of the west.

The gist of this article is BS. Trump doesn't give a rat's as* about anything but himself, first, and his own bent idea of what the US should be. I've been saying on this site for several years, the US has fallen into a parallel of the fall of the Roman empire. It will only take another decade to prove that hypothesis. And I'll be 100% correct.

As I've said before, even an imbecile like Trump can't permanently harm the long term US-Japan relationship and Alliance. The ties are too deep - over 60 years. And the neighborhood Japan resides in means it needs a friend and guarantor of its security.

Unless something fundamentally changes, and that looks unlikely, the US-Japan relationship is on firm footing.

The US doesn't need the Japanese bases , but Japan needs the US to survive.

Abe still doesn't get it: any attempt to counter China with alliances will fail. Don't trust any one who promised to be against China because China is too expensive to contain and Japan can't afford the bill.

We also have a Japan first agenda since a long time, we stand against China also.

Believe it or not, Canada, U.K., and Australia have always had the strongest ties with the U.S. Also, while it may not be seen easily in the media, the U.S. has stronger ties to Korea than they do with Japan. Canada by far has been America's number one trade ally.

What is truly important is that from a production standpoint, the U.S. and Japan will always be allies because they hold a mutually beneficial relationship. Without each other, many things will suffer from GDP, trade, and jobs. Countries amongst the top in world GDP will always rely on each other even when they feud because they have too many things intermingled.

That is why the trade war with China absolutely hurts America just as much as it hurts China. The problem with Trump is that Trump does not necessarily care about the U.S. economy or the economies of other countries. The stances that provide him the easiest path to his financial success is what matters the most to him. That is why he is a figurehead that can be "openly" bought.

the title is misleading. relations have gotten better and "America First" is no different than Abe putting "Japan First" or Xi putting "China First."

Regardless of small differences, USA and Japan will always remain Number one allies in the world.

Actually the US considers the UK their number 1 ally.

This is pretty interesting,because from our prospective in the European Union the U.K. and Australia have stronger and deeper friendship rather than with Japan.

Stop trusting the Americans especially Trump...hypocrites... A man with NO honour to his promise and words...

China has never betrayed his own affiliates...

"Deep uncertainty" describes over 50% of American's feelings about President Trump too.

As for defense partners with the USA, looking at the count of US military in-country, Japan has the highest number outside the USA. Next is Germany, then South Korea. Japan and SK alone have more US military than all of Europe.

https://www.state.gov/s/l/treaty/collectivedefense/ has the list of defense treaties/agreements that the USA is in. NATO, Japan, SK, .... most of the Americas included. But Mexico is specifically excluded, which surprised me.

Then there is the "5 Eyes" (FVEY) relationships which is Australia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia), Canada, [New Zealand, UK and USA. Similar language and cultures make for the friendship.

Singapore, South Korea, and Japan are said to be close to the FVEY countries, https://theintercept.com/2017/04/24/japans-secret-deals-with-the-nsa-that-expand-global-surveillance/

There are the additions to make the 9-eyes

Denmark France Netherlands Norway

and 14-eyes adds:

Germany Belgium Italy Sweden Spain

America's relationship with Japan will improve immensely in January 2020.

JJ JetplaneToday  01:16 pm JST

the U.S. has stronger ties to Korea than they do with Japan.

Please explain what are you using to measure "stronger ties"?

The US is a friend to no one. The US still "occupies" Japan and continues to bully the rest to the world and the so-called Western allies are allies because they are afraid to stand up to the US. These "Western Powers" still haven't learnt that appeasing a bully just leads to more bullying.

he seems to be too overwhelmed to harm the alliance, besides, China alone can counter balance America's influence now, he really doesn't have the luxury to be picky on friends

@OssanAmerica

Although we maintain a trade deficit from an item standpoint with both South Korea and Japan, America actually comes out on top in terms of money made with South Korea. South Korea is one of the biggest importers of American beef. They are the largest importer of American Natural Gasses. America actually has a hand in Korean politics and we have a far more favorable defensive pact with Korean than we do with Japan. Also, that is why America has come to the defense of South Korea on certain politically charged situations with Japan. It is because of the strength of those ties. Also, fcompanies have far more favorable laws in South Korea than Japan. Furhtermore, America is the largest importer of South Korea's skilled labor force. That is why America has had a FTA with Korea since 2012 but does not want to enter into one with Japan.

As a whole, America has had weakening ties with Most countries in Asia. The financial burden and growing deficit has forced America to take more steps back than ever before.

I like Japan

I have a big big big ???. Doesn't Abe think it is time to stop this bowing to America for his fellow citizens ???.

if he like agreeing to America then China is much nearer and except for all the misdeeds in the second world war, China will be better help to Japan.