Japan’s view on US ties worsens on Trump’s trade push

Japan’s popular perception of the country’s ties with the United States worsened significantly this year, an opinion poll showed yesterday, battered by US President Donald Trump’s hostile trade policies.

The annual poll by Gallup and the Yomiuri newspaper showed the proportion of Japanese people who see the relationship between world’s largest and third-largest economies as ‘good’ posting its largest decline since 2000.

Since his campaign to become president in 2016, Trump has complained about Japan’s US$ 69 billion trade surplus with the United State, particularly in the autos sector, which accounts about 75 per cent of the imbalance.

Washington and Tokyo are set to start fresh trade talks early next year.

The poll, which was taken between Nov 26 and Dec 3, showed 39 per cent of Japanese respondents think the relationship between Japan and the United States is ‘good’, down from 56 per cent in last year’s survey.

It was the biggest fall since 2000.

Another 39 per cent say the relationship is “bad”, up from 23 per cent.

Across the Pacific, 50 per cent of US respondents in the poll think the relationship is ‘good’, unchanged from the previous survey while 11 per cent think ties are ‘bad’, little changed from 12 per cent last year.

Thirty per cent of Japanese say they trust the United States, down from 39 per cent in the previous survey and the lowest rate since 2000, but 70 per cent of American say they trust Japan, the poll showed.

The deterioration in Japan’s public perception of the United States coincides with sharp disagreement with Trump’s trade protectionism.

Some 75 per cent of Japanese say Trump’s demand for Tokyo to reduce its trade surplus with the United States is unreasonable, the poll showed.

On the other hand, 64 per cent of Japanese see the security alliance between the two nations as useful for safety in Asia-Pacific region, compared with 70 per cent of Americans, the poll showed. — Reuters