TOKYO — Japan plans to spend around $10 billion to become the largest customer outside the U.S. for Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35 jet fighters, as it responds to a rising China and pressure from President Donald Trump to spend more on American military hardware. The cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday approved an increase of Japan’s existing order for 42 F-35s to 147 of the aircraft as part of new defense plans that include the development of Tokyo’s first post-World War II aircraft carriers. Around 40 of the jets will be the F-35B version, which can take off and land vertically and will be used on two flat-top destroyers that will be refitted to carry aircraft. The U.K., currently the largest non-U.S. customer, has plans to buy 138 jets and is acquiring the F-35B version. At current publicized prices, Japan’s bill for the newly ordered F-35 jets would be around $10 billion, although Lockheed Martin LMT, -2.94% is under frequent pressure in the U.S. to lower the cost of the aircraft, the world’s most expensive military program. https://www.wsj.com/articles/japan-to-buy-105-more-f-35-fighters-11545098435
This type of thing is related to the dangerous little game that China is playing in regard to the North Korean situation. Everyone knows that China has no interest in seeing North Korea get on better terms with the Americans - but also does not want to touch off a larger confrontation. Problem is that Japan has its own interests and the United States needs to either help protect Japan per treaty obligations or free the Japanese up to protect themselves- which many on the homefront in Japan want. Sending missiles into Japanese waters is not popular on the home front. And historically the Chinese and the Japanese have had-very, shall we say, difficult relations and the Japanese have some scores they would like to settle. So, China plays its little game in NoKo but its worst fear is that it will lead to a further militarization of Japan. They need to worry about that because it is happening right as we speak as noted in the article. They are playing a risky game. Rising Japanese nationalism is not going to go away anytime soon just because Macron says nationalism is bad. If/when a more militant government comes to power there or the current one responds to requests that it stop being a pussy, and the country has been increasing its American weaponry. well.....let's just say.....Little Rocket man best not send his little rockets toward Japan again and Trump will not be able to stop Japan as has been done in the past. And China knows that the Americans arming of Japan is a counterbalance to Chinese aggression in the South Sea. I wonder how Commander in Chief Kamela Harris or Kirsten Gillibrand would handle all this. Oh, that's right. Abolish ICE.
More Tuesday MAGA: Mnuchin Says China and U.S. Planning for Trade Talks in January December 18, 2018, 2:09 PM EST Treasury secretary says Huawei case remains separate track Reducing trade deficit with China still one main goal Steven Mnuchin speaks during an interview in Washington on Dec. 18. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email The U.S. and China are planning to hold meetings in January to negotiate a broader truce in their trade wars but are unlikely to have any face-to-face contact before then, according to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Mnuchin, speaking in a roundtable interview Tuesday at Bloomberg’s Washington office, said the two sides had held several phone conversations in recent weeks and were still in the process of planning further formal discussions. “We’re in the process of confirming the logistics of several meetings and we’re determined to make sure that we use the time wisely, to try to resolve this,” Mnuchin said. Both sides are now focused on trying “to document an agreement” by a March 1 deadline for their current tariffs truce to run out. “We expect there will be meetings in January,” he said. Previously the administration hadn’t been specific on the timing of talks. Mnuchin said neither he nor President Donald Trump were aware of the arrest of a senior executive from Huawei Technologies Co. when they met with China’s Xi Jinping for dinner on Dec. 1, the same day that the company’s chief financial officer was arrested in Canada. The Treasury secretary also sought to play down the president’s declaration last week that he would be willing to intervene on Huawei’s behalf if it was necessary to help reach a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies. “We’ve been very clear and China understands that these are separate tracks,’’ Mnuchin said. Xi’s Defiant End to 2018 Signals More U.S.-China Tension Ahead He and the president had not had “any direct conversations’’ about the Huawei case, Mnuchin said. He also declined to comment on whether the Treasury Department was preparing a broader case against the Chinese telecommunications-equipment provider, which has been accused by the U.S. of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions against Iran. Hawks in the Trump administration have long raised questions about just how much the U.S. should trust any promises of economic reforms made by Xi given the experience of past administrations in dealing with Beijing. But Mnuchin said the two sides had agreed that any eventual deal would be “enforceable and verifiable and have specific dates on it.” “We are determined that if we have an agreement it will be specific enough that time frames and details and everything else will be laid out,’’ he said. Reducing the trade deficit with China remained a major priority for Trump but Mnuchin said the administration understood it would take time and was also focused on securing structural changes in the Chinese economy that would help balance trade. The U.S.’s monthly trade deficit in goods with China hit a record in October and is on track to have expanded through the first two years of the Trump presidency. “I don’t think that we’d expect that overnight,’’ Mnuchin said of the prospect of eliminating the trade deficit with China. But he said the U.S. and China had agreed on the need for more balanced trade and that would set the stage for meaningful change. The U.S. was determined to secure the same market access for American companies to China that Chinese companies get to the U.S., Mnuchin said. “And if we do that and there are structural changes, the trade deficit by definition will be a lot more balanced,’’ he said. “I don’t think there is a question of there is a win for them, or a win for us,” Mnuchin said. “I think that there could be a win for both in the sense of they have a large, growing middle class that wants U.S. goods. So I think there’s an economic outcome that’s good for both of us.’’ Trump has agreed to put on hold a scheduled increase from 10 percent to 25 percent in tariffs on some $200 billion in imports from China while the negotiations take place through March 1. In return China has agreed to resume buying American soybeans and to at least temporarily lower retaliatory tariffs on U.S. auto exports imposed last summer. Uncertainty about the substance of the truce agreed to over a dinner between Trump and Xi on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit has fed volatility in financial markets in recent weeks. So too have growing concerns about a slowdown in the Chinese economy.