Everything You Need to Know About the U.S.-Japan Defense Treaty Irking Trump

A longstanding defense treaty between the U.S. and Japan is the latest international agreement to attract the ire of President Donald Trump. He is said to have mused about withdrawing from the treaty because he sees it as one-sided, since it promises U.S aid if Japan is ever attacked but doesn’t oblige Japan’s military to come to America’s defense. A U.S. withdrawal would represent a fundamental shift in an alliance that has helped guarantee security in Asia, laying the foundation for the region’s economic rise.

It was first signed in 1951 along with the Treaty of San Francisco that officially ended World War Two. Revised in 1960, the “Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan” grants the U.S. the right to base military forces in Japan in exchange for the promise that America will defend the nation if it’s ever attacked. Under some circumstances, the treaty would include the U.S. defending Japan from cyberattacks. During the U.S. occupation after World War II, the Americans imposed a pacifist constitution that prohibited Japan from maintaining land, sea or air forces.