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What if Japan & South Korea sided with China on US tariffs?

Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

If China, Japan, and South Korea formed a united front, what kind of leverage would they have in negotiating against US tariffs?

Oh, if that were to happen, they'd have incredible leverage because China's the second-largest economy in the world, Japan's the third. This would be a really, really big deal. Except for the fact that it's not going to happen. Their trade ministers did just meet, and they've had some interesting coordinated statements. They do a lot of trade together, and they want to continue that. But the fact that the security of South Korea and Japan is overwhelmingly oriented towards the US, and they would not want to undermine that, means that they will certainly not see China as a confederate to coordinate with against the United States, not least on trade. The American response would be belligerent. So no, that's not going to happen.

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US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the Prime Minister's office in Tokyo on March 30, 2025.

POOL via ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters

Japan courts both the US and China on security and trade

In his first trip to Asia this weekend, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called for greater military cooperation between Tokyo and Washington. “Japan is our indispensable partner in deterring Communist Chinese military aggression,” hesaid prior to meeting with Japan’s Defense Minister Gen Nakatani in Tokyo Sunday. “The US is moving fast … to reestablish deterrence in this region and around the world.”
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Members of the Lawyers from Across Japan for the Victims of the Unification Church(LAJAVUC)attend a press conference as the Tokyo District Court issued a dissolution order to the Unification Church, the religious group formerly called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, in Tokyo on March 25, 2025.

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REUTERS/Stringer

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REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Trump tariffs steel and aluminum at 25%

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to the US. This raises the tariff rate on aluminum to 25% from the previous 10% that Trump imposed in 2018, and it reinstates a 25% tariff on “millions of tons” of steel and aluminum imports previously exempted or excluded.

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Paige Fusco

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Reuters

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