Trump criticizes Japan, other allies ahead of summit
OSAKA, Japan — President Donald Trump, arriving in this nation Thursday, opened his latest foreign trip much as he did his last one, lashing out at America’s allies, including his hosts, just before sitting down with them to talk through differences on issues such as security and trade.
In the hours before and after leaving for the annual Group of 20 summit, Trump assailed Japan, Germany and India. He complained that under existing treaty provisions, if the United States were attacked, Japan would only “watch it on a Sony television.” He called Germany a security freeloader and chastised India for raising tariffs on U.S. goods.
Trump repeated his approach to visiting Britain earlier in the month. When a reporter mentioned past criticism of him by the Duchess of Sussex, the U.S.-born Meghan Markle, Trump said he did not realize “she was nasty,” then denied saying it, despite a tape recording of him doing so. He also called London Mayor Sadiq Khan a “stone cold loser” who is doing a terrible job of running Britain’s capital.
In the latest case, he called into question Japan’s mutual defense treaty with the U.S. After Bloomberg News reported that Trump had privately talked about pulling out of the treaty, he raised the subject without even being asked about it during an interview on Fox News on Wednesday.
“We have a treaty with Japan,” Trump said. “If Japan is attacked, we will fight World War III. We will go in and we will protect them and we will fight with our lives and with our treasure. We will fight at all costs, right? But if we’re attacked, Japan doesn’t have to help us at all. They can watch it on a Sony television, the attack.”
The U.S. signed the treaty with Japan in 1951 after forcing a new constitution on the country that disavows a full military of its own beyond self-defense forces. Thhe U.S. secured the right to station forces in Japan, giving it an important base of operations in the Pacific to counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In exchange, the U.S. promised to defend Japan if it were attacked.
In Tokyo, Yoshihide Suga, the chief Cabinet secretary and the government’s top spokesman, rejected assertions that the treaty was unfair. “The obligations of the United States and Japan” are “balanced between both countries,” he said, according to Reuters.
After assailing the treaty with Japan, Trump went on to repeat what has become a perennial attack on Germany. “We pay for close to 100 percent of NATO,” he said. “People don’t know that. We pay for close to that because Germany doesn’t pay what they’re supposed to pay, and out of the 28 countries, seven are paid up.”
But Trump mischaracterized how NATO works and gave a false number about America’s share of the financial burden. NATO has a budget to cover common civilian and military costs, and the U.S. pays 22 percent of that, according to a formula based on national income. None of the NATO allies are in arrears on their contributions.
What Trump was referring to was a commitment by NATO allies to each spend 2 percent of their national economies on their own armed forces by 2024. He was correct that only seven countries meet that goal: the U.S. with 3.4 percent, along with Greece, Estonia, Britain, Romania, Poland and Latvia. Germany spends only 1.4 percent on defense. But neither Germany nor any of the others are obliged to “pay up” to anyone other their own militaries.
Collectively, estimated defense spending by all NATO members this year comes to $1 trillion, according to an update issued this week. Defense spending by the U.S. represents 70 percent of that total, not 100 percent, and even that includes U.S. spending on forces deployed in the Pacific or the Middle East, not just those committed to defending Europe.
Trump’s attack on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi concerned not security but another of the president’s favorite topics: tariffs.
“I look forward to speaking with Prime Minister Modi about the fact that India, for years having put very high Tariffs against the United States, just recently increased the Tariffs even further,” the president wrote on Twitter.
But India’s action in raising tariffs on 28 categories of imports came in response to Trump’s decision to increase tariffs on imported aluminum and steel and his decision last month to revoke a preferential trade status for more than $5 billion in imports from India.
Upon landing in Osaka, Trump headed straight to dinner with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. While quarreling with other allies, Trump this week came to Morrison’s defense with a tweet supporting his government’s hard line toward refugees and asylum-seekers. In the tweet, Trump featured images of signs saying “You Will Not Make Australia Home” and “No Way.”