Taking the US-Japan Alliance to New Heights

Economic Security and Countering Coercion

The US-Japan alliance arguably achieved its highest point in early 2024 with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to the White House. The summit capped off a series of US-Japan initiatives aimed at advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific ranging from new defense posture agreements to economic security. Spurred by the disruptions of COVID-19 but founded in the growing threat posed by the People’s Republic of China to the rules-based international order, the United States and Japan have wholeheartedly embraced bilateral closer cooperation over the past half decade.

The necessity of addressing the PRC’s use of economic coercion—or leveraging its economic advantages to punish countries and businesses that run afoul of it—led Washington and Tokyo to come together around economic security. The bilateral policy agenda includes securing supply chains, developing new sources of critical minerals, boosting domestic industrial manufacturing, and restricting China’s access to dual-use technologies, among a host of other initiatives. The overall goal is lofty: reduce dependence upon China and foster an Indo-Pacific free of coercion, more prosperous, and open to all. 

With the generous support of the US State Department, the Wilson Center commissioned the reports contained in this collection to think creatively about the key issues facing the United States and Japan as their economic security agenda solidifies.