After months of waiting, Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba finally met with U.S. President Donald Trump in a whirlwind 24-hour visit to Washington. But what actually came out of the meeting? Was this meeting a diplomatic success or just political theater? And what does it mean for Japan’s economy, defense and future?
Key Topics:
- Japan’s $1 trillion investment in the U.S.
- A $44 billion LNG pipeline deal from Alaska
- The Nippon Steel–U.S. Steel situation (and Trump’s surprise announcement)
- Trump’s push for Japan to increase defense spending
- Tariffs: Did Japan dodge a trade war?
- Ishiba’s political future — will he even be in power when Trump visits Japan?
Chapters:
- 0:00 Topic overview
- 1:01 Preparing for the meeting
- 2:13 The agenda
- 3:17 The Nippon Steel surprise
- 5:13 Tariffs
- 6:14 First impressions
- 8:10 What comes next?
- 10:51 Outro
Read more:
- Ishiba proposes Nippon Steel invest in U.S. Steel rather than acquire it
- Ishiba, after meeting Trump, voices optimism over averting tariffs
- Trump pressure to boost Japan defense spending could strain alliance
What do you think?
Was this meeting a diplomatic success or just political theater? And what does it mean for Japan’s economy, defense and future?
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5 Comments
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garymalmgren
Great summary.
Thank you.
Wasabi
Unless trump attack Greenland, Canada, Panama and Gaza, you can not trust a word he say.
HopeSpringsEternal
Trump views Japan as a desperate rapidly aging depopulating island, a real estate nightmare in a dangerous tough neighborhood with not much to offer.
Given above, Japan has very little leverage and while $1 Trillion of investment sounds like a lot, many tech. companies have valuations that are far higher.
ZENJI
two words: bullied and intimidated.
starpunk
He just blah blah blah blah blah. I noticed the other day on a Google a reference to a 'Gulf of America'. Orwellian kiss-up to a bully fascist.
It reminds me of those 'Bantustans' that South Africa had during the apartheid era. They were 'homelands' for the 'Bantus' (Black Africans) that supposed 'invaded' the region (that's the crap idea they promoted). Virtually no nation ever recognized these phony 'Bantustans', they were governed by Black African puppets for the apartheid regime.
And as it is now, nobody should acknowledge or recognize these geographic r'enamings' either. They is all a totalitarian load of bull coming from the illegal and illegitimate trump/muskrat/putin regime.