Japan scraps U.S. meeting after Washington demands more defense spending: report

How about in order to appease Herr Trump, Japan just “regrettably” assemble a few dozen nuclear devices, of course they would be just for defensive purposes only, right? In the long run, I’d assume that nuclear weapons are a lot cheaper to produce than to field and constantly upgrade a standing army. Dunno, maybe not.

i wonder how such an announcement would go over with the world.

It’s a nice Saturday afternoon kind of warm just walking down the street. Random stupid thoughts.

Come on Japan. Get with the program. From salaries to defense spending. Japan refuses to roll with with price increases, cost of living and the cost of defending Japan as a whole. In the times we live in.

Defense budgets are expensive we get it.

For decades, Japan capped its defense spending at around 1% of GDP — a self-imposed limit (not a legal one). Even as Japan is slowly moving past this cap, balancing defense with an aging population, social welfare costs, and economic challenges makes it politically difficult to push for massive increases. This has to change.

Its like sometimes the blind leading the blind. It's like the Japanese do not see, China’s military expansion, or North Korean missile tests, and increasing tensions over Taiwan and the South China Sea. Japan announced a plan to nearly double defense spending over five years, aiming to reach 2% of GDP. Really 2%!

Come on Japan not enough. Wake up!

Trump just wrecking alliances around the world. What does the US gain from Japan spending 5% on defense if they are uncommitted to defending Taiwan? Not much.

This is how you do it. You say yes. Absolutely then, you buy joint projects with Australia, the UK, Europe, etc al. When you buy stuff from the U.S you’re committing to a 30 year deal and all that money goes to the U.S. for the next 30 odd years. Spare parts, training, upgrades, software upgrades, and now there is the risk of geopolitical uncertainty with the U.S.

Trump et al believe that we’ll increase spending, buy American and then hollow out our own defence industries, which also reduces our independence. France & Sweden appearto have it correct. They have built their own independent industries, and maintained jobs and money in country but also maintained political independence.

Time to build our ships, missiles and planes, and keep the jobs, money, sales and politics in-house! We might even win exports away from the U.S.

Still feels like a shake down. A protection racket. Pay up, or else!

Japan finally growing some (raisin sized ) balls and timidly standing up to th hegemon ? I thought I would never see the day.

Its time to take away the only toy and reason the Americans care about Japan : the bases in Okinawa. Thats the only bargaining power they have against the US and their treatment of other countries like vasalls. If it werent for the "substandard" leadership of Biden and Pelosi, tensions over Ukraine and Taiwan would never have boilt over

Andreas SetzerToday 04:23 pm JST

Still Putin's War. Still China's aggression against Taiwan.

Simple DC calculation, as long-term US trade surplus is unacceptable as is persistent under investment in defense

Trump's simply following thru on promises to address these issues, thus Japan will see reciprocal tariffs increase early next month in advance of the election

Tell Trump ( aka the man child) to take a hike!

The Japanese defense budget should be 2% of the GDP, plus the money paid to the US for its military protection. Nice little earner that one for the US.

Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported on Saturday that President Donald Trump's government was demanding that its Asian allies, including Japan, spend 5% of GDP on defense.

You cannot be given a clearer picture of what the US really is, than this.

An industrial military complex that sews seeds of fear and doubt in it's 'allies' minds so they will buy the weapons and military hardware it makes. War, it is crystal clear, is excellent business for the US. Those that cannot see this are simply blind.

Japan should say no, in fact Japan should say no to spending 3% of GDP on defence, because Japan has the right to self determine what it will do. If the US doesn't like it, then it can pack up it's bases and go home. Or re-locate to Taiwan - maybe that's a better solution. That's will really get the Anti-China crowd's juices flowing, eh?

Not to worry American Empire, Japan will cave eventually, at least in word.

Vast majority of US trade deficit auto related, car exports or parts, Trump's solution is easy, reshore production to US, zero tariffs, and approx. 90% trade deficit disappears

Really nothing to negotiate, because Japan's market for good and services is rapidly shrinking

If it werent for the "substandard" leadership of Biden and Pelosi, tensions over Ukraine and Taiwan would never have boilt over

But at least they 'delivered' Trump 2.0, so here we are...

Now it's Japanese 'crunch' time with insufficient defense spending and large structural US trade surpluses

Japan is the largest foreign car maker in the US, employing 110,000 Americans, with a total of 1.36 million jobs supported across dealerships and supplier networks.

Japan is the largest foreign investor in the US. Since 1990, Japanese direct investment in the U.S. economy has grown steadily, total investment at the end of 2023 was $783.3 billion ranking first among all investor countries, ahead of Canada ($749.6 billion), Germany ($657.8 billion), and the United Kingdom ($635.6 billion).

Exactly, Japan can and is rapidly increasing its US based production right now, as expanding existing auto plants can be done very quickly in most cases.

Many Japanese autos made in Canada and Mexico also being reshored to US, because it turns out DJ Trump was serious about delivering on his promise to protect American jobs and reduce the US trade deficit.

US trade deficit fell approx. 56% in May vs. May 2024, helping to increase US GDP growth. US tariffs in April and May were about 5X higher than 2024, +88 $Billion

Turns out Trump was right about trade, easy to fix

Why not 4 percent? Why not 10? Japan has spent decades as a loyal vassal of the US, but that era may be ending.

Unlike Israel, Japan really is America's greatest ally. It is the buggest buyer of their debt, one of the biggest buyers of their weapons, hosts their troops, and builds in the US without complaint.

The US is still powerful, but it's clearly in decline. Bullying loyal allies like Japan is not strength. It's desperation.

The calls from the US for more defense spending by just about everyone, is one thing. They are not saying you must spend more money on US systems. Nothing stops you from spending on what you need and designing and building it yourself, or in partnership with others.

I would like to see cooperation on building military systems by Japan and South Korea, that would be a powerful union of technology and innovation. Plenty of potential customers from Philippines to Malaysia, Singapore to Vietnam not to mention Australia and even NZ.

As already mentioned above, France and Sweden and UK have managed to maintain domestic abilities to design and produce armaments for Air, Sea and land systems. Japan should be spending on its own self sufficiency and being the Asian version of Sweden.

Personally I think 5% is too high for peace time spending, unless your planning to go to war and soon, 3% would be on the top end of whats needed for normal peaceful nations to maintain deterrence and a defense force able to assist in all emergency situations from flood relief, earth quake assistance etc for yourself and others in your region.

Let the US spend 5% first and see how it goes for them for a few years before reviewing what you need for yourself.

It's nice to see Japan express its own opinion every once and a while.

The difference is the US has not 'under' invested in defense for generations and so naturally Japan, SK, NATO members etc. need to play 'catch-up', especially since they live in TOUGH neighborhoods/China/Russia

Key for smart defense spending is private sector centric, plenty of 'tech' catalysts for civilian use (e.g. Boeing) and duel use for emergency Govt. response etc.

Govt. is simply inept in all matters related to military tech

Wow... Japan showing a little backbone! Good!!

Good to see some push back and some spine from the Ishiba govt. Enough is enough.

Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported on Saturday that President Donald Trump's government was demanding that its Asian allies, including Japan, spend 5% of GDP on defense.

The US administration is kidding themselves. Nakatani should have laughed at Hegseth on the phone and hung up.

The US is testing the patience of ALL her allies.

Japan should say no, in fact Japan should say no to spending 3% of GDP on defence, because Japan has the right to self determine what it will do. If the US doesn't like it, then it can pack up it's bases and go home. Or re-locate to Taiwan - maybe that's a better solution. That's will really get the Anti-China crowd's juices flowing, eh?

In theory yes but the reality is Japan along with South Korea as the cornerstone of US forces in Asia cannot make the US relocate its military bases anywhere else...if any Japanese politician made a serious effort to get this done they would "suddenly" suffer a heart attack or slip and fall in their bathroom

With or without these political assclowns going back and forth, please remember life can be good. Hit the gym if you want to win and earn a good living.

I wonder if the Japanese government is in talks behind the scenes with the EU, China, India, etc., to push back on Trump's proposals on tariffs, defense spending and more.

Otherwise, I think the Japanese government would be more cautious.

As for tariffs, if negotiations with countries other than the U.K. are not finalized, the American people may suffer from inflation.

Excellent! Way for Ishiba to stick to his guns (no pun intended). He's right. The US has no say in what % of Japan's GDP will go into military spending. The last I looked, Japan was a sovereign nation.

Instead of buying more weapons from the USA, why not invest in a local military industry. It would help the Japanese economy and create a new export product besides automobiles.

A poor country like North Korea is a good model for Japan as a country that can defend itself. If Japan is a pacifist country, don't expect American to fight and die for it.

President Trump has shown that American soldiers are not going to fight for Japan if Japanese soldiers won't do the same for America. The purpose of American forces stationed in Japan are to defend the interests of the USA not Japan, NATO is a good example.

Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported on Saturday that President Donald Trump's government was demanding that its Asian allies, including Japan, spend 5% of GDP on defense.

trump is doing the same thing to Japan and other allies as he is doing to Ukraine by making YUGELY outrageous demands that he knows can't be met, that the United States itself doesn't even meet (roughly 3.4% of GDP on military spending), in order to pull out of previously negotiated international pacts, agreements and treaties OR as leverage in current negotiations.

It should be remembered that trump has 3 1/2 years left, which will cause much tension and damage but Japan and others must stand up to this buffoon, this hiccup of a president and ride the storm! If it does not and kneels to the wanna-be king it will be worse off in the long run! Friends respect one another, they work out their differences and not bully the other into submission! To be clear, trump has never had any friends nor does he care, he just has useful idiots until they aren't useful any longer and tosses them aside, deported, investigated or locked up!

Japan was once ruled by a constitutional monarchy and should not now bow to a wannabe monarch who has no use or understanding of a constitution! Be strong Japan.

But Tokyo scrapped the meeting after the U.S. asked Japan to boost defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product, higher than an earlier request of 3%

So did Japan agree to increase defense spending to 3% and then they moved the goalposts?

Gotta Keep that Military Industrial complex busy, more useless defense spending, more wars, more death and destruction is part of the equation.

I am surprised to see Japan standing up to the bully in the White House.

Japan already recognises the need to increase spending on its defence. How it does this and to what level is for Japan to decide, not some halfwit ignoramus in another country.

The US alas has demonstrated it is no longer a reliable or trustworthy ally, so there is little incentive to buying military equipment from them which leaves you open to attempted bullying and blackmail in time of need. Buy from more reliable sources who don’t seek to control you and develop systems with allies so you gain the knowledge.

Thanks to the orange idiot, the US military industry is going to find fewer and fewer countries are going to want their products, but look elsewhere and developed alternatives.

HopeSpringsEternal

800lb gorilla, rising interest rates in Japan,

That's so funny. When was the interest rate even 1%?

In March, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said that other nations do not decide Japan's defense budget

Actually curious what trump's gonna say

Japan, you don’t understand. It’s your duty to pay and buy more in exchange for security. It’s the same as any shouten gai .

There is protection money. You need to pay up.

Remember when they said countries would come begging to make a deal?

The master negotiator has spent 22% of his presidency playing golf. Even had to slink away from the G7 for ‘urgent business’ to give another 2 week deadline and then play golf again.

Nobody is lining up.

If you keep open communication and ignore the bankers, there is no need for any huge "defense" spending. What's the point of protecting "us" against "them" when they are being told to protect "them" against "us."

Nobody is attacking anybody else.

So, what's the point of defending "us" against shadows? We have one planet to live on, folks. We have to find ways to get along.

All of us.

Not just the few!

Japan has canceled a regular high-level meeting with its key ally the United States after the Trump administration demanded it spend more on defense, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

One might’ve thought the sun had long since set on the age of empire—but apparently not everyone got the memo. Just because the U.S. has a few military bases dotted around Japan doesn’t mean it gets to play landlord and start raising the rent.

Yes, Washington may want allies to “pay their share,” but treating a sovereign nation like a geopolitical piggy bank isn’t diplomacy.

Colonialism ended, at least officially, some time ago. But every now and then, someone turns up to the reunion dressed as the empire and wonders why nobody else brought tea.

Its a ingenious way of saying put money into our MIC, basically, give us the money. The government should just tell the American, we will increase spending on our defense, as you wish, but, we will purchase what we need from other sources, ie, Chinese? How about it?

If the U.S. were to withdraw its military presence from Japan, Japan would likely need to at least double or triple its current defense budget—potentially investing over $100 billion annually—to independently match the deterrence and capabilities provided by the U.S. forces, including nuclear umbrella protection, advanced missile defense, and regional naval presence. Given this immense cost disparity, it is justifiable for Trump—or any U.S. president—to ask Japan to contribute more toward the shared defense burden, as the current arrangement heavily favors Japanese security at a fraction of the true cost.

But I get it, Orange Man Bad.