This month at the White House Rose Garden, President Trump paused to lovingly remember his fallen friend, holding a placard showing the global wave of tariffs he wanted to impose.
“The newcomer who is the prime minister of Japan was Abe Shinzo – he was a great guy,” Trump said in his tariff announcement on April 2.
Praise for Abe, who was shot three years ago in a campaign speech, did not stop Trump from slapping 24% tariffs on products imported from Japan. But nonetheless, they came from other allies, especially the presidents who have spoken little about the good things these days, especially Canada and Europe.
Currently, Japan is one of the first countries allowed to negotiate for the possibility of a deferral from Trump’s radical tariffs, many of which have been put on hold for 90 days. On Thursday, negotiators, hand-selected by the current Japanese prime minister, are scheduled to begin talks in Washington with Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent and others.
Japan’s location at the forefront of the Line reflects the various approaches Trump has taken towards the country. The president still denies it for its unfair trade policy and unequal security relations, but he also praises it in the same breath as its close allies, ancient cultures and well-versed negotiators.
“I love Japan,” Trump told reporters last month. “But we have an interesting deal with Japan, where we have to protect them, but they don’t need to protect us,” he says of the security treaty, which is based on Japan’s 50,000 military personnel.
Japan has a special place in Trump’s thinking, if not always liked. The meteor’s economic rise in the 1980s shaped his current view of global trade, including his passion for tariffs. Some observers say the president has been guiding him to maintain a romantic relationship with Japan and lead him to criticizing the country, praises it, and enjoys flattering from recent leaders.
“Trump’s actions towards Japan seem very contradictory, but they are actually very consistent,” said Glenn S. Fukushima, a former US trade official who has seen US relations for over 40 years. “He has a lot of praise and respect for Japan. I think he was really wise to make Americans Hoodwinki.”
The president suspended the widest tariffs after the free fall on Wednesday, but Japan still faces the new 10% base tariffs Trump has imposed on most imports into the United States. At the end of Friday, the White House revised the terms by saving smartphones, computers, semiconductors and other electronic devices from tariffs. However, high collections on steel and aluminum remain with 25% tariffs remaining on cars, which could hit Japan’s economy hard.
Japan responded to betrayal and perplexed feelings of tariffs that have similarly targeted American friends and enemies. After failing diplomatic efforts to exempt Japan, the current Prime Minister, Isbaiba, declared tariffs a “national crisis.”
But at the same time, Trump gave Japan more privileged treatment. When Isba wanted to discuss possible transactions to reduce tariffs, Trump called.
“I spoke with the Japanese Prime Minister this morning. He’s sending a top team to negotiate!” Trump wrote on his social media platform on Monday. Taking shape, the president soon moved to a complaint that Japan had “treated the United States very poorly in trade.”
“They don’t take our cars, but we take millions of theirs,” he wrote.
Flip-floping is not uncommon in Trump’s cuff off-cuff style, but his Japanese split-up views go far deeper and back to his early days as a Manhattan real estate developer. Still, he spoke of Japan as both a valuable client of his building and a source of funding for new transactions, and at the same time opposed the unequal balance of trade.
“America is being fooled,” Trump said in a 1988 interview. “We are a debt state, we must tax, we must carry out customs, we must protect this country.”
In 2016, these attitudes helped him to win among voters disillusioned with globalization. But before Trump took office, Abe was the first world leader to visit Trump Tower’s presidential election. There, he praised Trump’s election victory and presented a gold-plated golf club. Still being looked at carefully by other world leaders, Trump said he never forgot his gesture. Shinsuke J. SugiyamaHe was Japan’s US ambassador during the first Trump administration.
“Abe took the risk by becoming the first world leader to visit him,” Sugiyama said. “This gave Trump a completely different image of Japan.”
The current Japanese Prime Minister tried to use the same playbook during the second Trump administration, but with mixed results. Abe’s widow, Akie Abe had dinner with Trump and Melania Trump in January at Florida’s President Mar-A-Lago resort.
A month later, Isba became one of the first heads of state to visit Trump at the White House, making Japan’s major investment in American business and industry. He also mentioned the July 2024 attempt to assassinate Trump, telling the US president that “you were chosen by God.”
Isba has earned priority access to Trump for his negotiators. ryosei akazawaperhaps he will pledge to buy more American food, weapons and energy. Isba hopes he can provide enough to win Trump’s tariff exemption.
“Bending his knees first, Abe told Trump, “Look, Japan was laughing at us, but now I’m in power, so they’re coming to see me.” Jennifer M. Millera historian of American relations at Dartmouth University. “Isba hopes the old playbooks still work.”
