President Donald Trump is almost certain to pressure Japan to increase its defense spending during a meeting with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba later this week, a US government official said Wednesday, Report informs via Kyodo News.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not touch on any numerical targets, adding it is ultimately up to Trump to decide what to tell Ishiba regarding various issues when the two meet in Washington on Friday.
A different US official said that Japan purchasing US-made defense equipment would be especially important.
Trump has repeatedly urged NATO allies to spend 5 percent of their gross domestic product annually on defense, more than twice the current goal of 2 percent, if they want to secure US assistance. Like many other countries, Japan has been bracing for similar pressure under his second presidency.
Ishiba will likely try to draw Trump’s attention to Japan’s decision in 2022, after the president’s first term, to double its annual defense spending to 2 percent of GDP by 2027, a dramatic shift in postwar security policy under the country’s war-renouncing Constitution.
But Japanese officials have suggested that, in Tokyo’s view, the issue of defense spending is not a major agenda item for Ishiba’s first in-person meeting with Trump.
