COLUMNS

The Contradictory Nature of U.S.-Japan Relations

undefined and Director, Stratfor Center for Applied Geopolitics at RANE

Rodger Baker

Director, Stratfor Center for Applied Geopolitics at RANE, Stratfor

May 30, 2019 | 05:30 GMT

A print depicting U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry arriving in Japan in 1853. Japan is a critical component of U.S. defense architecture in the Indo-Pacific, but it is also a strategic economic competitor with the United States.

(UNIVERSAL HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG via Getty Images)

Highlights

Once again, U.S.-Japanese relations are diverging between strategic cooperation and economic competition — a long established pattern.
Trade disputes are not uncommon between the two countries: The United States actively challenged Japan's economic might in the midst of the Cold War, despite being dependent on the strategic position of its key Pacific ally.
The rise of China has brought Japan out of its economic malaise, and Tokyo is rapidly moving away from the postwar prohibitions of the Yoshida Doctrine and Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution.
Even as the United States and Japan struggle with a trade imbalance, there is a growing alignment of interests and actions when it comes to the strategic question of managing China.

U.S. President Donald Trump's Memorial Day weekend visit to Japan serves as a reminder of the complex relationship between the United States and Japan. In addition to ceremonial events, meeting the new emperor and visiting U.S. military personnel, Trump held discussions with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about trade frictions (driven by the United States' nearly $68 billion trade deficit with Japan) and regional security concerns ranging from North Korea to China to Iran. This contrast between bilateral trade competition and mutual security cooperation in many ways exemplifies the modern U.S.-Japan relationship....

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