Japan PM meets Trump under pressure on Hormuz

The first female premier in Japan's history, conservative Takaichi has had a strong supporter in Trump, who backed her ahead of her recent landslide election victory.

But she now faces a difficult balancing act, after Trump lashed out at Washington's Asian and European allies for rejecting his demand that they help reopen the key oil waterway that Iran has in effect shut down to retaliate for the US and Israel war campaign.

Yet while wanting to avoid angering Trump, she must also deal with both Japan's pacifist constitution, and the fact that Japan's economy is hurting from a conflict it had no part in.

"In accordance with Japan’s laws, what we can do, we will do; what we cannot do, we will not do. I intend to make that very clear," Takaichi said in parliament Wednesday.

But Trump, 79, has already named Japan as one of the countries that he says have refused to help.

In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump said that "we no longer 'need,' or desire, the NATO Countries' assistance -- WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea."

Sending its Self-Defense Forces abroad is politically sensitive in officially pacifist Japan, as many voters support the US-imposed, war-renouncing 1947 constitution.

But the world's number-four economy is the fifth-biggest importer of oil, with 95 percent of it coming from the Middle East and 70 percent passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
'Powerful and wise'
The Japanese premier charmed Trump when he visited Tokyo in October, even saying she would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Trump then endorsed her as "strong, powerful and wise" before her February election win.

But polls published last week suggest that her honeymoon is souring as pricier oil and gas from the Iran war risk making life more expensive for firms and families alike.

Yet Takaichi has been careful not to criticise the war and anger Trump.

Another reason Tokyo can ill afford to annoy Trump is that the United States has for decades -- with 60,000 troops on Japanese soil -- been the guarantor of Japan's security.

The US security umbrella is particularly relevant in the face of an increasingly assertive China.

Ties between Japan and China have worsened after Takaichi suggested in November that Japan might intervene militarily in any Chinese attempt to take Taiwan.

But the Iran war has fueled concerns that Washington has taken its eye off the Asia-Pacific.

Those concerns were amplified when Trump postponed a visit to Beijing to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which was scheduled on March 31, saying he had to stay home to oversee the war.

"Right now the Iran situation is gathering attention. But situations in regions outside Iran are also severe," a Japanese foreign ministry official said. "We hope that this visit will also talk about the Indo-Pacific."

Japan will also be seeking to woo Trump on trade.

Tokyo has pledged to invest $550 billion in the United States in return for lowering threatened tariffs of 25 percent to 15 percent last year.

Takaichi said Wednesday that she and Trump would also discuss joint development with the United States of deep sea rare earths off a remote Pacific island.

"Overall, prime minister Takaichi's best bet to have a productive meeting with president Trump on Thursday is to present Japan as a strong and reliable ally," Sayuri Romei of the German Marshall Fund told AFP.