President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meet during a state visit ceremony at the White House.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
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Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meet during a state visit ceremony at the White House.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
President Biden formally welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the White House on Wednesday for an official state visit, an honor that includes an Oval Office meeting, a press conference and, later, a lavish state dinner with Paul Simon.
Japan has long been one of the United States’ closest allies, and the Biden administration has sought to further strengthen its relationship as it fights China.
But Biden spoke out against Japan’s Nippon Steel’s recent decision to buy US Steel for nearly $15 billion, an unusual intervention that raised questions about economic ties between the two nations.
A senior administration official told reporters that the topic was not on the agenda for the meeting between Biden and Kishida.
“The relationship between the United States and Japan is much larger and more meaningful than just a trade agreement,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Biden says US Steel should stay in American hands
Last month, when Biden chose to weigh in on the deal, he sided with union workers and said the Pittsburgh-based company should remain in U.S. hands. Former President Donald Trump, who is running against Biden in November’s presidential election, has also said he would block it.
“US Steel has been an iconic American steel company for more than a century, and it is vital that it remains a nationally owned and operated American steel company,” Biden said in a statement. The United Steelworkers union endorsed him for his re-election campaign less than a week later.
President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida walk on the colonnade as they head to a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House.
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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida walk on the colonnade as they head to a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Scott Lincicome, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, told NPR that Biden’s decision to oppose the deal shows it was a political choice. Biden needs the support of union workers in November, and Pennsylvania is a swing state.
“It really sends a bad signal, not only to Japan but to the whole world, that the economy is not driving the bus,” Lincicome said.
There is a long list of other “deliverables” for this meeting
The White House is trying to illustrate the depth of its ties with Japan with an unusually long list of agreements or “deliverables” between the two countries – more than 70 items. Typically, a state visit can result in a dozen such agreements.
Many topics address security issues, including new levels of military cooperation, joint production of weapons, partnerships in space exploration, and new research projects in the field of artificial intelligence with companies like Microsoft and Amazon.
The fight against China is a major subtext of the visit, officials told reporters. On Thursday, Biden and Kishida will participate in a trilateral meeting with Philippine President Fernand Marcos Jr. A senior administration official described the strategy as a way to “flip the script” on China, which usually tries to isolate nations of the region.
“The isolated country is China, not the Philippines,” the official said.
NPR News
