Japan’s conservatives turn sour on Trump as ‘fears of abandonment’ deepen
Right-wing media outlets and politicians are now concerned that Trump’s second term will harm Japan’s trade and security interests
Just over a year later, that optimism has faded. The same commentators who once predicted that Japan and the US would prosper together under Trump’s leadership, marching in lockstep on trade and defence, are now markedly more pessimistic.
On the trade front, Trump’s tariffs on Japanese exports have alarmed policymakers and businesses alike. On security, conservatives fear the US may no longer serve as a reliable guarantor of Japan’s defence and say it has done little to ease Tokyo’s concerns over China’s rise.
For Japan’s conservatives, Trump’s second term has delivered a very different agenda from what they had imagined: hopes of stability and predictability have given way to trade wars, pressure on Washington’s allies across multiple fronts and growing security tensions.
On November 7, 2024, just a day after Trump declared victory in the US presidential election, the far-right Sankei Shimbun newspaper wrote in an editorial that there were “great hopes for peace and stronger global alliances” under the Republican leader’s administration.