Debunking rumors, a written foreign policy paper of a think tank close to the Trump campaign sheds light on what a second term would mean for Japan and Asia.
There appears to be considerable confusion on the Japanese side concerning the initial primary victories by former President Donald Trump in his quest to win the Republican nomination for president. After all, some observers declared Trump to be the biggest loser in the 2023 midterm elections just over a year ago.
Now, they are warning that Trump is headed back to the White House. The “foreign policies of a second Trump administration” would be dangerous, many pundits would have you believe.
Such criticism of a second Trump administration is not an accurate reading of the current state of United States politics. Instead, it simply reflects their own “anti-Trump” sentiments.
Asking at the America First Policy Institute
Would isolationism run rampant and the Japan-US alliance break apart under Trump, as is claimed by his critics? I posed that question to a representative of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), which is allied with the Trump camp.
The AFPI, headquartered in Washington DC, is a large-scale think tank with over 100 staff members. The chairwoman and president are both former cabinet-level officials in the first Trump administration. AFPI board members and researchers are openly Trump supporters.
As the “America First” in the name of this policy institute suggests, the Trump campaign out on the campaign trail relies on the AFPI for domestic and foreign policy input.
Focus on the US-Japan Alliance
The AFPI Asia section gave me a peek at its Japan policy document. It’s titled, The US-Japan Alliance Will Lay the…
