Delayed US-China summit raises stakes for Takaichi ahead of White House visit

2026.03.18 05:20 Can US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi maintain the rapport of their meeting in Japan last October? Photo: Kyodo Thursday’s summit between US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was supposed to see the two leaders sit down in advance of Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to ensure the allies were on the same page. Instead, with the US-China summit postponed and the Israel-US war on Iran going full blast, their meeting is likely to find Japan more on the defensive, according to analysts and former government officials. Takaichi will be trying to finesse shifting tariff levels, huge US investment demands and criticism over Tokyo’s hesitation at deploying support ships to the Strait of Hormuz, they said. “Back then, her primary concern was getting into Trump’s ear before he headed off to his summit with Xi in Beijing. You had really positive momentum,” said Jeremy Chan, senior analyst with the Eurasia Group. “And now the double whammy of the Iran war and the delay to the China trip. It’s higher stakes, but for the wrong reason.” Analysts said Takaichi could find Trump keen to have a “normal” summit that distracts from the Middle East – or he could light into her for failing to support the unpopular war and lash out, rhetorically and economically. Richard Fontaine, a former State Department and National Security Council official, said Trump “is likely to express some frustration” at the situation. “If the summit can avoid making things worse on the economic front these days, that counts as at least a minor win.” According to Chan, sending ships and personnel to the Strait of Hormuz would be a non-starter for Takaichi, not only given legal constraints but also the abysmally low popular support in Japan for the war. But she would be helped by the many other nations that had similarly refused, although she would be in his presence, Chan noted. “She needs to find a very delicate way

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