Japan is reportedly considering support for the Golden Dome. According to Nikkei, the consideration follows a recent phone call between President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.
The report suggested that Japan may used potential involvement in the Golden Dome’s development as means of negotiating tariffs.
Upon holding their first official meeting of this administration in February, Trump and Shigeru “affirmed their determination to pursue a new golden age for U.S.-Japan relations that upholds a free and open Indo-Pacific and brings peace and prosperity to a violent and disorderly world,” a White House statement read.
Both leaders discussed their shared desire for “bilateral security and defense cooperation under the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security to grow stronger than ever, and emphasized that the U.S.-Japan Alliance remains the cornerstone of peace, security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” the statement explained, noting that the countries seek to strengthen defense and response capabilities by “upgrading the respective command and control frameworks of U.S. and Japanese forces, increasing bilateral presence in Japan’s Southwest Islands, increasing readiness through more realistic training and exercises, further enhancing U.S. extended deterrence, and promoting defense equipment and technology cooperation.”
The Golden Dome is a $175 billion missile defense initiative aimed at protecting the United States from advanced missile threats, including those launched from space.
China has criticized the project, claiming it will “heighten the risk of turning space into a war zone and creating a space arms race, and shake the international security and arms control system.”
