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

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.

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.