Trade talks between the two countries, initially expected to yield a quick agreement, have become a slog with the July 9 deadline fast approaching. Japan has scrapped a top-level defence meeting it would normally be desperate to attend amid reports of US demands for more defence spending.
“A friendship like few others” is how US President Donald Trump described the US-Japan relationship in January, declaring his confidence that “the cherished alliances between our two countries will continue to flourish long into the future!”
Not even half a year later, is the shine already coming off what was heralded as a new “golden age” of ties between the two nations?
