Itsunori Onodera, a former Japanese defence minister who served whereas the primary Trump administration was in workplace, framed ongoing efforts to come back to a commerce settlement as a nationwide safety problem.
“We now have to consider the linkage of the issue … [The] financial system, nationwide safety, meals safety and financial safety. All are linked,” stated Onodera at an occasion hosted by the Brookings Establishment, a US suppose tank, on Wednesday.
“This isn’t solely a tariff subject,” he continued, describing “the nationwide safety framework and the worldwide framework” as being “significantly impacted”.
The senior lawmaker’s remarks got here as a second spherical of bilateral tariff talks happened within the US capital this week. Up to now, combined messages have come out of Tokyo and Washington, triggering uncertainty in Japan and throughout Asia.