Energy security to top agenda at US-Japan summit
The national flags of Japan and the United States
Energy security, trade imbalances and Japan’s defense spending are among the issues that will top the agenda at President Donald Trump’s first meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a Republican senator who has long been a close ally of the U.S. leader said Thursday.
A day before the summit at the White House, Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, who served as U.S. ambassador to Tokyo under Trump’s first presidency, said Japan buying more liquefied natural gas from the United States will have an enormous impact on wider Asia.
“What we have is the opportunity to significantly displace Russian LNG with us,” Hagerty said at a Hudson Institute event in Washington.
He expressed hope that Tokyo will make multibillion dollar investments in LNG terminals both in Japan and in the United States, which would help increase the volume shipped to Asia despite U.S. energy needing to travel a longer distance than Russia’s.
“If you think about a counterweight to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, how much more powerful would it be to provide clean U.S. LNG throughout Southeast Asia,” he added.
While planning to discuss various issues with Trump, Ishiba is likely to pledge Japan’s expansion of LNG imports from the United States following the president’s directive to increase fossil fuel production at home, according to Japanese government sources.
The proposal would strengthen the energy security of resource-scarce Japan, which in 2023 imported LNG chiefly from Australia, followed by Malaysia, Russia and the United States.
Echoing Trump’s view, Hagerty stressed that the United States has “nonreciprocal relationships” with its trading partners.
He said the issue will likely be raised by Trump, who has pledged to issue higher tariffs against foreign goods and pressure other countries to widen market access for U.S. businesses.
“I think they’re going to be a tough set of discussions between close friends and partners like Japan,” he said, although the country has been a top foreign direct investor in the United States.
“We’re eager to see Japan buy more goods from America,” he said. “But I’m optimistic that…we can manage this in a way that helps address what has been a persistent trade deficit but do it in a manner that’s…good for both economies.”
In a similar vein, Hagerty said he “wouldn’t be surprised at all” for Trump to ask Japan to increase its annual defense spending from 2 percent of its gross domestic product to possibly 3 percent.
He claimed such a request would be reasonable, noting that the security environment in the Indo-Pacific region is more severe than ever due to China’s coercive actions in and around the Taiwan Strait and surrounding the Senkaku Islands, which are controlled by Japan but claimed by Beijing, as well as the activities of North Korea.
Referring to Trump’s close relationship with Japan’s late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his first term, the former envoy said the U.S. commander-in-chief recognizes the significance of the long-standing alliance between Washington and Tokyo.
“We’re not trying to insult our allies. We’re trying to make them stronger. We want to all be stronger together, and I think that’s the fundamental message,” he said.
Hagerty suggested that although personal relationships matter in politics, as evidenced by the bond between Trump and Abe cultivated over several rounds of golf, “strategic necessity” is a more powerful driving force for the United States and Japan to strengthen the alliance further.
Still, he added, “One thing I understand about Prime Minister Ishiba is that he was a fairly good golfer in high school. I hope that he takes…golf lessons back up again, because I found golf diplomacy to be a wonderful opportunity for us.”
