Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae held a brief meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.
While Takaichi celebrated the strength of the bilateral relationship, the summit underscored Tokyo’s limited leverage over the United States – whether regarding US hostility to international institutions or Trump’s pursuit of an understanding with China – even as Japan’s strategic reliance on the US has grown.
The upshot is that Tokyo is unlikely to join middle-power alignments that would directly challenge the United States.
