WASHINGTON When President Donald Trump signed a new law on steel and aluminum tariffs, he mentioned Japan and the "little smile" on its leader’s face reflecting what Trump believed to be the island nation's pleasure at long having a trade advantage over the United States.
That rhetorical slight, combined with Japan being a key ally that was not granted an exemption from the tariffs, has cast an awkward pallor over the meetings that began Tuesday between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Abe, who like Trump, is saddled with political scandals in their capitals, is looking to recapture a personal bond with Trump forged on the golf course — and push for the exemptions already granted to the European Union, Australia, Canada, Mexico and others.
“Trump has a lot of hang ups about Japan leftover since the 1980s,” said Eric Miller, a trade consultant who has advised Asian governments. “He is somebody who the Japanese have found very frustrating to deal with. There is this huge effort to try to get into Trump’s good books and one of the things for the Japanese is they have not gotten anything for it.”
Abe has also invested a lot of political capital into his relationship with Trump and can hardly afford to return home empty-handed after the “little smile” comment, an embarrassing rebuke that was covered across Japan.
“I'll talk to Prime Minister Abe of Japan and others — great guy, friend of mine," Trump said when signing the new tariffs last month. "There will be a little smile on their face. And the smile is, 'I can't believe we've been able to take advantage of the United States for so long,'" he continued. "Those days are over."
The slight was particularly painful considering most other key U.S. allies have been granted exemptions to the tariffs, which went into effect last month. And some of them, including Canada and Mexico, are in tense renegotiations of their free trade deals.
The White House on Tuesday dismissed any concerns about friction between the two leaders.
Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, left open the possibility Tuesday that Japan could be included in the tariff exemptions, but made no promises.
“This is all on the table,” Kudlow said. “That’s why this is such an important meeting.”
Trump told reporters when Abe arrived at Trump’s Florida resort that “Japan is buying a tremendous amount of military equipment from the United States, which is good. And as you know, we’re buying a lot of cars and a lot of other things from Japan. But we are each buying a lot. But we still have to talk about trade, and the prime minister understands that."
Rep. Mark Takano, D-California, who met with Abe earlier this month said Japan should be exempted, given its role as an economic and national security partner.
“The Japanese were rather surprised that the president imposed tariffs on Japan because they feel like they’ve been the good kid in class,” Takano said. “Prime Minister Abe was first out of the chute to meet President Trump right after he was elected and to show him respect, and Japan being a major player in the global economy.”
Takano said Japanese officials questioned him about omitting Japan from the tariffs and wondered if he was just delaying so he could grant it in a later, much grander sign of benevolence.
The omission raised significant questions about relationships the United States wants with other countries and where Japan ranks among them.
Some are looking for clues in Trump’s past, dating back decades when he found himself in direct competition with the Japanese in the 1980s, a time when Japan’s economy was thriving and U.S. hostility was high, including among real estate and construction magnates like Trump.
He openly complained about the flood of exports coming into America from Japan and lambasted the idea when the Mitsubishi Estate Co. bought into New York’s Rockefeller Center in January of 1989.
Two of Trump’s top negotiators, Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, are both veterans of the trade battles with Japan in the 1980s when American steelmakers complained about cheap steel imports.
During the campaign, Trump railed about cars.
"They send their cars over by the millions, and what do we do?” Trump said. “When was the last time you saw a Chevrolet in Tokyo? It doesn't exist, folks. They beat us all the time."
In his Senate confirmation hearing last year, Lighthizer called Japan “a primary target” for greater market access for U.S. farm products.
Now, Japan just wants to make nice.
Japan had been fairly confident that it was the United States’ most important partner in the Asia Pacific, militarily, economically, politically, said Shihoko Goto, who speaks regularly with Japanese officials as the Senior Northeast Asia Associate at the Wilson Center's Asia Program.
That’s still the case, but the tariffs raised “raised more than a few eyebrows about that confidence,” she added.
“It is a huge storm,” she said. “It’s a tremendous, unexpected dynamic in the relationship.”
Lindsay Wise contributed to this report.
Franco Ordoñez: 202-383-6155, @francoordonez