Japan’s main opposition leader said Wednesday that the nation’s prime minister is papering over differences on trade and other issues with President Donald Trump, and that could ultimately hurt the U. S.-Japan alliance. Yukio Edano, who heads the Constitutional Democratic Party, said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is
Japan’s main opposition leader said Wednesday that the nation’s prime minister is papering over differences on trade and other issues with President Donald Trump, and that could ultimately hurt the U. S.-Japan alliance.
Yukio Edano, who heads the Constitutional Democratic Party, said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is « trying to conform to Trump’s ways a little too much. I think that comes with risks. »
Abe was the first world leader to meet with Trump after the 2016 U. S. election, giving the American a golf driver and winning an early invitation to Trump’s Florida estate.
But the U. S. soon pulled out of a trans-Pacific free trade pact that Abe supported and the Trump administration has since imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on Japan, the world’s third largest economy. Trade tensions could escalate if the U. S. follows through on threats to impose higher tariffs on auto imports.
« Trump’s protectionist ideas are not something that Japan shares, » Edano, a veteran lawmaker and former trade minister, told The Associated in an interview during a visit to Washington.
