WASHINGTON–U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday mused on the U.S. treaty alliance with Japan, which he affirmed in a joint statement with Tokyo last month as poised “to grow stronger than ever.”
The collective defense arrangement dates back to agreements made after the conclusion of hostilities in World War II.
“We have a great relationship with Japan, but we have an interesting deal with Japan that we have to protect them, but they don’t have to protect us. You know that? That’s the way the deal reads,” Trump said on Thursday.
“And by the way, they make a fortune with us economically… Who makes these deals?” The remarks echoed comments Trump made during a 2019 visit to the country.
Japan’s embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Nicholas Szechenyi, a Japan expert at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, called Trump’s remarks “technically inaccurate.”
While Japan’s post-World War II Constitution long restricted its military activities, reforms have meant it could exercise collective self-defense and help protect the United States under certain circumstances, Szechenyi said.
Such circumstances included if an armed attack against a foreign state that is in a close relationship with Japan threatened Japan’s survival, he said.
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