Beijing tries to woo an uninterested Tokyo over joint tariff fight

Chinese Premiere Li Qiang sent Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba a letter asking that they “fight protectionism together,” according to local reports Tuesday, as both countries face potentially disastrous US tariffs.

“I don’t know what the equivalent in Japanese for ‘chutzpah’* is, but I think the Japanese bureaucrats will snicker a bit to themselves,” says David Boling, Eurasia Group’s director for Japan and Asian trade. “China has a tendency when relations with the US are not going well to suddenly become much more positive in their approach to Japan.”

China is Japan’s largest trading partner but a highly distrusted neighbor from a national security perspective. Japan launched trade talks with the United States last week, and Boling says Tokyo is determined to strike a deal.

“The United States is just too important as an ally and trading partner, and even if talks break down, they’re not going to look to China first,” he says.

What’s more, Ishiba faces a crucial election in the upper house of the Diet, Japan's legislature, in July, right around when the US tariff pause is due to expire. With his political life on the line, we’re watching for an agreement in principle to be sealed with the US soon.

*Chutzpah is 厚かましさ (astukamashi-sa), if you were curious.