The election of Donald Trump as president of the United States in November 2024 and the election of Takaichi Sanae as prime minister of Japan in October 2025 have added new variables to the US-Japan relationship. On the economic side, Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Japanese exports to the United States and agreement for Japan to invest $550 billion in the United States are disrupting the normal flow of bilateral trade and investment. On the security side, Japan is significantly increasing its defense capabilities in response to events in Russia, China, and North Korea, as well as the perceived unreliability and unpredictability of the United States, with some advocating that Japan should possess nuclear weapons. Prime Minister Takaichi’s November 7, 2025 Diet statement on Taiwan has triggered a strong reaction by China, which is trying to drive a wedge between the United States and Japan. The Japanese snap election in February, Takaichi’s trip to Washington, DC in March, Trump’s trip to China in April, and the US midterm elections of November are all likely to affect the course of US-Japan relations.

RSVP

Glen S. Fukushima is a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University, where he focuses on the nexus between technology, national security, trade, and U.S.-Asia relations. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. In October 2021, President Joseph R. Biden nominated him to be Vice Chair of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, and he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in April 2022.

From 1990 to 2012, Fukushima was based in Asia as a senior executive at one European and four American multinational corporations. He was elected once as Vice President and twice as President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan and served on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards in the United States, Europe, and Japan. He has also served as a Visiting Professor at Sophia University, Kyoto University, and Waseda University.

From 1985 to 1990, Fukushima served as Director for Japanese Affairs (1985–1988) and Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan and China (1988–1990) at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in the Executive Office of the President. He started his career as an attorney at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker.

He was educated in the United States at Deep Springs College, Stanford University, Harvard Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School. He also studied in Japan as an exchange scholar at Keio University and as a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Tokyo.