As Washington and Tokyo prepare to launch key tariff negotiations, U.S. President Donald Trump has once again criticized the 1960 security treaty with Japan as “one-sided,” rekindling Japanese fears he might use the talks to ask Tokyo to pay more for hosting American troops, buy more U.S.-made weapons or further boost defense spending.
"We pay hundreds of billions of dollars to defend them, but ... they don't pay anything," Trump told reporters Thursday in Washington.
"If we're ever attacked, they don't have to do a thing to protect us," he added, marking the second time in as many months that he has questioned the decades-old alliance and voiced displeasure with what he views as an unfair partnership with Japan — remarks he also made during his first term.
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