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WITHIN 24 HOURSUSYour browser does not support the element. on January 6th, two events took place that encapsulate the mixed legacy Joe Biden will leave in America’s relationship with Japan. That afternoon North Korea tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile, and America shared data about the launch in real time with Japan and South Korea; such co-operation is the fruit of the Biden administration’s efforts to foster closer ties between allies in the Indo-Pacific. Later that day, Nippon Steel, a Japanese steel firm, sued the American government over Mr Biden’s recent decision to scupper its acquisition of Steel, an American one.Under Mr Biden, security co-operation with Japan has flourished. America and Japan have ramped up joint exercises, deepened intelligence sharing and better integrated their armed forces; the two have also worked in closer concert with other American allies in the region. This has all unfolded with the clear aim of deterring China. Rahm Emanuel, America’s outgoing ambassador to Japan, argues that the alliance is “better prepared” to do so than it was four years ago.That was hardly a given. Japanese officials met Mr Biden’s victory in 2020 with some apprehension. Ahead of the election that year, one senior Japanese foreign ministry official even wrote an anonymous article praising Donald Trump’s confrontational strategy towards China and lamenting a possible return to engagement with China under a Democratic administration. Those fears proved unfounded. Mr Biden accelerated America’s hard turn on China and made alliances central to his approach. “The Indo-Pacific is a home game for China; it’s an away game for the United States,” Mr Emanuel says. Allies like Japan help to “level the playing field for us”.Tighter security ties became possible because of changes in Japan, which moved to in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There was a realisation that “things have to be moved into the second and third gear by the Japanese for the Japanese,” says Mr Emanuel. That spurred America to undertake long-discussed reforms of its own, such as restructuring its command-and-control systems in the region. Japan pushed America to “rip the band-aid off and do something that we all knew had to get done,” he reckons. The armed forces of the two allies have never been closer.Yet Mr Biden will leave office on a sour note with Japan. One of his last acts as president was killing the Nippon Steel deal, on the grounds that such investment from a Japanese firm poses a to America. Japanese reactions have been unusually sharp. Ishiba Shigeru, the prime minister, demanded that America “clearly explain why there are security concerns”. Japanese business leaders expressed surprise and dismay; many say it may impact future investment decisions. “This is a one-off case, but it will still carry major ramifications,” argues William Chou of the Hudson Institute, an American think-tank.Japan and America have weathered frequent bouts of economic friction in their decades-long alliance. No single commercial transaction is big enough to throw the whole relationship off-course. But the affair is indicative of America’s broader protectionist turn. Japan’s biggest gripe about Mr Biden’s approach to the Indo-Pacific has long been the absence of a trade policy. One response for Japan may be to seek closer economic ties with China; plans to host a state visit for Xi Jinping, China’s leader, are reportedly in the works. Mr Emanuel, for his part, calls for America to develop a “more nuanced position” on trade, between “ignoring, as we did over 30 years, all the downsides of trade” and “the position that all trade is bad regardless of the benefit”. Nuance, alas, is unlikely to be a hallmark of Mr Biden’s successor.
