U.S. President Donald Trump’s last-minute Wednesday announcement of a suspension of new tariffs on Japan for three months was no doubt welcomed by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, as it gives his government breathing space to plan and formulate a more thorough response.
The sudden about-face by Trump on tariffs raises the more complicated question of how the already-unpopular Ishiba or even someone else — depending on the results of July’s Upper House election — can diplomatically, but effectively, deal with the mercurial U.S. president not only on tariffs, but other politically thorny issues surrounding the larger U.S.-Japan relationship as well.
However, while there might be behind-the-scenes grumbling among Ishiba’s allies and rivals within the Liberal Democratic Party about the best strategy for dealing with Trump, experts say it’s unlikely to explode out in the open before the election, given the lack of a clear alternative to Ishiba as prime minister now, and a long-standing tradition in the ruling party of ensuring internal political strife stops at the water’s edge.
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