Japan’s Political Parties React as Trump Takes Office; New U.S. Policies ‘Expected to Have a Major Impact’

The Yomiuri Shimbun

21:00 JST, January 22, 2025

Japan’s ruling and opposition parties voiced concern over the impact on Japan’s economy and security in light of a series of upcoming U.S. policies, such as “America First,” asserted by U.S. President Donald Trump in his inaugural address. The parties also urged Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to have a meeting with Trump at an early date.

“Any change in U.S. policies is expected to have a major impact on the international community, and by extension, on Japan’s economy, diplomacy and security,” Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council Chairman Itsunori Onodera said at a party meeting on Tuesday, speaking in response to promised tariff hikes and other aspects of Trump’s speech.

The ruling parties fear that Trump’s policy would undermine free trade, which Japan has long promoted, and thus have a negative impact on the Japanese economy.

Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito told reporters, “It is not good that the leader of a liberal economy would take measures to raise tariffs.” Saito also touched on the United States’ re-withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, an international effort to slow global warming, saying, “I felt that the world would be in big trouble.”

Trump may demand that Japan and other allied countries increase their security-related burdens. “The areas that will be affected in Japan are defense and trade,” Japan Innovation Party leader and Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura told reporters. “The prime minister needs to work to ensure that both Japan and the United States benefit.”

Democratic Party for the People acting chief Motohisa Furukawa called for the government to minimize any negative impact by saying: “It is the government’s responsibility to cope with any changes. We must respond flexibly to any change.”

Requests to Ishiba

The parties also made requests to the prime minister regarding a Japan-U.S. summit meeting that is being arranged for the first half of February.

LDP Secretary General Hiroshi Moriyama urged Ishiba to build personal relationship with Trump. “It is important to realize a meeting as soon as possible and build a strong relationship of trust,” Moriyama said at a press conference.

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Junya Ogawa reacted to Trump’s speech, in which he said the United States would take back the Panama Canal. Ogawa said Tuesday that his remarks were “not something that will lead to world peace and stability, and Japan must say what it has to say.”

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat head Akira Koike expressed doubt that Japan could simply ignore an array of issues by blithely assuming “the Japan-U.S. alliance is invincible.”