Japan’s Biggest Fear Isn’t China or North Korea. It’s the US.
Trump’s tariffs are the first crack in the most important security partnership in the Pacific.
Shigeru Ishiba stands up for free trade.
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
The US-Japan alliance has never been more important or stronger. And rarely has it faced greater uncertainties or dangers. That’s the paradoxical takeaway from my trip last week to Tokyo, where I spoke to government and private-sector audiences about the state of the world.
Japan faces growing threats in its neighborhood, from a bellicose China and a potentially provocative North Korea. But the state of America was the foremost worry of nearly everyone I met.
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