Trump cracks down on alliances in US-China trade war, saying "hundreds of billions of dollars to defend Japan"
In the US-China trade war, President Trump has cracked down on alliances by saying "hundreds of billions of dollars to defend Japan."
On the 10th, US President Trump spoke about seeking the next step with China at a cabinet meeting, and then said that the US-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty is unilaterally advantageous to Japan, saying, "We are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to defend Japan, but Japan is not paying anything."
In a Washington-based article titled "Trump justifies high tariff policy by mentioning defense issues..." "We will pay hundreds of billions of dollars to protect it, but Japan will not pay anything," the Yomiuri reported that "President Trump emphasized his dissatisfaction with the US-Japan Security Treaty again at the White House on the 10th, saying, "We will defend Japan, but Japan does not need to defend us."
The Yomiuri then stated that "by mentioning defense issues, he seems to have justified the US administration's high tariff policy," and "He took questions from reporters during the cabinet meeting." Trump's remarks that day came after he said the U.S. had made a bad deal with the European Union (EU) and China on tariffs, and he mentioned Japan.
The Yomiuri reported, "He said of the U.S.-Japan security treaty, "We have a very good relationship with Japan," and "We pay hundreds of billions of dollars to protect Japan, and they pay nothing." He did not mention the burden of the cost (budget) for Japan to station U.S. troops in Japan. "The question is who made this agreement, and the same goes for (traditional) trade agreements."
The AP reported, "Trump said at a Cabinet meeting on the 10th, "There will be transition costs and transition issues," but "in the end, it will be beautiful." As the president tries to turn the global trade war into a one-on-one showdown with China, he realizes that he has alienated some key U.S. partners who could strengthen America's position in the fight between the world's largest and second-largest economies." The AP continued, “China, a major target of Trump’s tariff wrath, is attacking America’s isolationism in its fight for survival, exploiting its mistakes and competing for a place in the global trade reorganization to gain greater influence.” In late March, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts before issuing a statement acknowledging the need for cooperation to address “new challenges” and promising to strengthen cooperation on supply chains. But the meeting, revealing the limits of the gathering, failed to produce an agreement on what to do about the U.S. tariffs. ”
Gabriel Wildau, managing director of consulting firm Teneo, told the AP that Trump’s tariff reprieve “seems to be an effort, at least in part, to isolate China,” adding that “China now has less prospects of assembling a broad international coalition to resist U.S. tariffs by building a new trade bloc that excludes the U.S..” U.S. House Democrats said on the 10th that the Trump administration’s tariffs have damaged ties by pushing important Pacific allies and partners, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Vietnam, away from the United States but closer to China.
“We have started a trade war against all of our partners in the region,” Democratic Rep. Adam Smith (Washington) said on the day.
“This is pushing our allies in the wrong direction,” Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) said.
Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, called the move “a complete surrender of U.S. global leadership that only benefits the Chinese Communist Party,” shortly after Trump announced the “reciprocal” tariffs on April 2.
Amid escalating tariff wars with the United States, Chinese Premier Li Qiang spoke by phone with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao told Malaysian trade officials in a video conference on Thursday that China is ready to work with its trading partners and address their respective concerns through “joint efforts to safeguard the multilateral trading system,” the AP reported.
Malaysia holds the rotating presidency of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The same day, economic ministers from ASEAN countries issued a joint statement expressing concerns about the unilateral tariffs, saying they “have created uncertainty and will pose significant challenges to businesses, especially micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, and global trade dynamics.”
The New York Times reported on the 10th that "the first trade war with China, which lasted from 2018 to 2019, cost American farmers billions of dollars in lost sales, and to offset the losses, President Trump paid $23 billion in subsidies from a fund created by the USDA to stabilize the agricultural sector," and that "American corn farmers, who sell about 2% of their produce to China, are also nervous about the trade war."
Argentina used an additional $5 billion from China in its deal with China on the 11th, easing pressure on the South American country's declining foreign exchange reserves and reinforcing the strategic importance of its partnership with China despite recent criticism from the Trump administration.
The Argentine central bank extended a long-standing $18 billion bilateral currency swap agreement between the two countries for another year, allowing Argentina to receive $5 billion more in Chinese yuan, equivalent to $35 billion, from the People's Bank of China by mid-2026, the AP reported.
The Times continued, “Concerns about fairness are growing, and some farmers feel cheated, as large-scale farm operations and farmers in the South have benefited the most.” “The soybean industry is one of the sectors most concerned about the current tariff retaliation, and China is the largest market for U.S. soybean exports, but when President Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese products during his first term, China retaliated by buying soybeans from other countries, including Brazil.”
“If this continues long-term, we will have a significant number of farmers out of business,” Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer and president of the American Soybean Association, told the Times. “We still have scars from the last trade war.”
The American Soybean Association has been urging the Trump administration to strike a new trade deal with China to avoid a protracted trade war.
The Brazilian presidential press office said that President Lula will attend the Victory Day celebrations in Russia on May 9, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, and will attend the China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean Nations Forum in Beijing on the 12th.
Brazil's largest trading partner is China, followed by the United States, with the United States projected to have a trade surplus of $28.6 billion in goods and services in 2024.
According to Brazilian government data, China is Brazil's largest trading partner, accounting for 28% of Brazil's exports and supplying 24.2% of Brazil's imports in 2024, while the United States is second, providing 12% of Brazil's imports and purchasing 15.5% of its exports.
President Lula met with the Emperor during his visit to Japan on March 27, and said at a press conference after the summit that “Trump’s tariff hikes on a wide range of products do not foresee positive results,” and that he would “like to start negotiations on a trade agreement between the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR) and Japan.”
Negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the South American trade bloc Mercosur began in December of last year, after the European Union (EU) and Mercosur concluded their FTA negotiations, and Japan was next in line. Japan has become a sensitive political agenda ahead of the House of Councilors election this summer, and Japan’s fate has become a threat to the Trump tariff regime.
Mercosur is a South American economic bloc comprised of five member states: Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and is a huge market with a population of approximately 300 million. The Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that the EPA between Japan and Mercosur is called the “last mega FTA (free trade agreement)” and that business circles on both sides have been actively lobbying to make it happen.
The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced on its website that "the total merchandise trade between the United States and China in 2024 is estimated at $582.4 billion," and "the US exports of merchandise to China in 2024 will be $143.5 billion, a 2.9% ($4.2 billion) decrease from 2023, the US imports of merchandise from China in 2024 will total $438.9 billion, a 2.8% ($12.1 billion) increase from 2023, and the US merchandise trade deficit with China in 2024 will be $295.4 billion, a 5.8% ($16.3 billion) increase from 2023."