Itsunori Onodera, a former Japanese defence minister who served while the first Trump administration was in office, framed ongoing efforts to come to a trade agreement as a national security challenge.
“We have to think about the linkage of the problem … [The] economy, national security, food security and economic security. All are linked,” said Onodera at an event hosted by the Brookings Institution, a US think tank, on Wednesday.
“This is not only a tariff issue,” he continued, describing “the national security framework and the global framework” as being “greatly impacted”.
The senior lawmaker’s remarks came as a second round of bilateral tariff talks took place in the US capital this week. So far, mixed messages have come out of Tokyo and Washington, triggering uncertainty in Japan and across Asia.
