key takeaways
- As Donald Trump returns to the presidency, the Ishiba government is working to discern how his administration will impact Japan.
- The difficulty for Tokyo is that while the administration will include prominent China hawks – who would be expected to look to deepen cooperation with Japan – Trump himself has hinted that he could be open to dealmaking with China as part of a world divided into spheres of influence.
- In the near term, Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru is seeking to meet with the new president to build a partnership – and navigate potential obstacles to cooperation – but the bigger challenge will be determining how Trump’s broader foreign policies affect the world order.
Japan Foresight 