A Budding Bromance: Trump’s Love for the Samurai Nation
A massive rally filled with patriotism and thinly veiled military threats. Several hours of golf, followed by an American burger and the unveiling of a promotional hat. Bold assertions of friendship with world leaders, underscored by tensions over U.S. trade protectionism.
This is the now familiar sequence of events that has characterized Donald Trump’s domestic and international agenda since the beginning of his presidency. It is not surprising, then, that when Donald Trump kicked off his 13-day tour of Asia with a visit to Japan, his welcome by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe featured all of the trademark activities: 9 rounds of golf with a Japanese golf champion; lunch, where he eschewed the world-famous Japanese cuisine in favor of an American burger; and the presentation of two matching trucker caps, embroidered with gold and the message “Donald & Shinzo Make America Even Greater.”
This was followed up with the customary Tweet from Trump, who called Abe a “wonderful man” and later reporters that their relationship “is really extraordinary.” Abe responded with equal enthusiasm. A U.S. official claimed that “the closeness of the relationship is unprecedented, and the degree to which U.S. and Japanese strategies are aligned, both on the Korean peninsula but also throughout the Indo-Pacific, is also unprecedented.”
Beneath this brotherly romance, however, lies a fundamental difference in agenda. In January of last year, Trump fulfilled a campaign promise and pulled the Unites States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multinational trade agreement negotiated by Obama that included Japan and 10 additional countries. Trump met with Abe shortly after this, and since then discussions about an economic deal between the two countries have been in the works. While the U.S. wants a bilateral free trade agreement, however, Japan is determined to play a leading role in the Asian and world economies.
Without the U.S., the TPP could regroup and press forward with the deal, which would link countries accounting for 20% of the world’s economy; however, there is also significant concern that another economic superpower — especially China — could fill the void left by the U.S. In fact, one of Obama’s intentions for the TPP was to counter China’s growing influence, especially through environmental, labor, and patent protections that the Asian powerhouse is unlikely to support. Mitigating Chinese dominance was just one benefit of the TPP; other features included a reduction of trade taxes and access to new markets with fewer regulations, both of which would promote American exports.
Still, Trump’s withdrawal was not entirely unfounded. In addition to his continued dismantling of Obama’s legacy, the protectionist, anti-globalist president was satisfying labor groups who lamented the movement of U.S. jobs overseas. This influence was clear in Trump’s speech to Japanese executives during his trip, in which he told the group to “try building [their] cars in the United States instead of shipping them over” and commending Abe’s commitment to buying U.S. military hardware — a commitment which Japanese officials later walked back with a more cautious statement of continuation rather than acquisition.
This tension is at the crux of U.S.-Japan relations in the modern era, with both countries working towards greater autonomy and preeminence in the Pacific region; but you would never have guessed it from “best friends” Trump and Abe. This is part of a troubling trend among foreign leaders in dealing with Trump: a front of friendship, filled with praise and public generosity, masking underlying tensions and an unwillingness to accommodate some of Trump’s more extreme policy proposals. While it is true that “personal diplomacy” has always been an aspect of the power dynamics among world leaders — President Reagan was infamous for his insistence on face-to-face negotiation and persuasion through personal relationships — this new president has shown an especial weakness for flattery, which others have been quick to take advantage of.
Last summer, seemingly on a whim, French President Macron invited Trump to the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, including a dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower; Macron is now considered one of Trump’s allies amidst general hostility in the EU. During an official visit in May, Saudi King Salman offered him a tour of a new counter-terrorism center while promising to buy billions of dollars in U.S. arms, to which Trump has responded with continued Tweets of support ever since.
It’s not certain whether these “close friendships” have actual results. Public appearances aside, good relations with other countries could be beneficial to the United States in achieving its foreign policy objectives, especially if the aforementioned world leaders make good on their promises to meet our demands. In the case of Japan, however, this seems unlikely.
So far, Trump’s visit has not been fruitful, and he has apparently emerged from his trip empty handed. Even with the negotiation of a bilateral free trade agreement, the U.S. would be hard pressed to make up its $69 billion trade deficit with Japan, a country which was already hesitant to concede to U.S. demands in the TPP. For Trump to be successful, he is going to have to set aside the golf clubs and sit down for some real policy discussion.
For a president who thinks Japan’s samurai warriors should be shooting down nuclear missiles, that’s a big ask.
