Japan, US prolong settlement on navy base funds | Donald Trump Information

Japan will pay 1.9 billion in the coming year for the 55,000 US troops stationed there after Trump tried to quadruple the payment.

Japan and the United States have agreed to extend an agreement on how much Toyko will pay to maintain US military bases on its land for an additional year while they continue talks on a new pact.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi announced this on Wednesday.

The current five-year deal was supposed to end after March 2021, but it now runs until March 2022, with Japan expected to pay around 1.9 billion over that period. Both governments are expected to sign the deal soon, the Kyodo news agency reported.

The deal comes after former President Donald Trump reportedly increased pressure on Tokyo to quadruple its payments to US troops to $ 8 billion.

The campaign was part of Trump’s wider effort to urge allies to increase their defense spending. The former president said the deal with Tokyo was unilateral.

There are currently around 55,000 US soldiers stationed in Japan. These include the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet and its permanently forward-facing carrier strike group, as well as the Third Marine Expeditionary Force.

As part of what is known as “host country support”, countries that house US military facilities bear part of the costs for training, labor and logistics.

In addition to defending Japan’s most important ally, US military units are using the archipelago as a base for operations in the wider Asia-Pacific region, where US military might have sought to counterbalance China’s growing influence.

The Biden administration has tried to turn away from the Trump administration’s antagonistic approach to U.S. allies and their defense obligations.

In early February in particular, the government froze Trump’s troop withdrawal in Germany, the headquarters of the US European Command and the US Africa Command.

The plan aimed to relocate headquarters and withdraw around 11,900 soldiers, but took European allies and US military officials by surprise.

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