Sheila Smith, the John E. Merow senior fellow for Asia-Pacific studies at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how Trump’s victory is being viewed in Japan and what his presidency will mean for U.S.-Japanese relations and the security situation in northeast Asia. This episode is the sixth in a special TPI series on the U.S. 2025 presidential transition and is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
France seeks to spur international support for humanitarian aid for Lebanon as fighting grinds on between Israel and Hezbollah; Japan holds a snap general election as Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru hopes to rally the embattled and longtime ruling Liberal Democratic Party; Georgia heads to the polls in an election that could shift the country away from the European Union and firmly into Russia’s orbit; and China and India reach a border deal.
As China, North Korea, and Russia move into closer alignment, members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are concluding that European and Indo-Pacific security are not divisible.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy intensifies efforts to galvanize greater political and financial support; Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will elect a new leader to become the next prime minister; the United States and Canada each impose a 100 percent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs); and Sri Lanka’s new president, Marxist Anura Kumara Dissanayake, calls for national elections.
U.S. President Joe Biden is reportedly planning to block the Japanese takeover of U.S. Steel, raising questions about the administration’s economic and foreign policy priorities.
When Prime Minister Kishida Fumio announced on August 14 that he would not seek re-election, the door opened for a number of LDP legislators with ambitions to lead Japan.
Tourism has become a priority in Japan’s economic growth strategy. The pandemic blunted that effort, but when the Kishida Cabinet lifted its restrictions on foreigners entering Japan in 2022, the foreign visitors began to flock to Japan.
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