Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi visits the White House later today, as the Iran war continues to preoccupy the Trump administration.
A meeting that otherwise would have been about China and trade will now be focused on the conflict in the Middle East, as Takaichi navigates President Donald Trump’s demands that Japan help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. (Most NATO members have already said no.)
Because of the war, Trump is delaying his China trip, jettisoning efforts to squeeze Russia’s oil revenue, and searching for fixes to high gas prices.
Europe is particularly attuned to how the conflict has diverted the White House’s attention from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“We feel it’s important to keep high the attention on Ukraine,” one European official said ahead of today’s meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.