In a major diplomatic development, Japan has cancelled a top-level meeting with the US after Trump administration asked it to spend more on defence. Japan is a major buyer of US defence products.
In the annual high-level security talks between the two countries known as 2+2, US secretary of state Marco Rubio and defence secretary Pete Hegseth were scheduled to meet Japan’s defence minister Gen Nakatani and foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya in Washington on July 1. However, the Trump administration abruptly asked Japan to increase its defence spending to 3.5% of GDP, from current 3%, angering the Shigeru Ishiba government.
As per a report by Financial Times, the demand was made by Elbridge Colby, the third-most senior official at the Pentagon. Annoyed over the demand, the Japan govt decided to cancel the 2+2 meeting.
Notably, as Donald Trump focuses on increasing manufacturing activities in the US, he has been asking other nations to increase defence purchase from the US. During PM Modi’s US tour, Trump had offered the F-35 fighter jet to India, which Indian govt is unlikely to consider.
Japan’s Nikkei newspaper reported a Pentagon spokesperson has said that America’s allies in Asia should spend 5% of GDP on defence, following the European example.
