TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba left Sunday for a four-day trip to Vietnam and the Philippines, as Tokyo seeks to shore up regional ties after Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught.

Ishiba’s trip comes after China’s President Xi Jinping conducted his own Southeast Asia tour, with Beijing trying to position itself as a stable alternative to the United States as leaders battle to counter Trump’s tariffs. Before leaving for the trip, Ishiba called Vietnam and the Philippines—along with the rest of Southeast Asia—a “growth centre” that is driving the world economy.

But they face “major impacts” due to US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, he said, adding that Japanese businesses operating in the region could also be hit. “We would like to listen carefully to the opinions and concerns of Japanese companies in the region and make use of that in how we deal with the tariff measures,” he said. Despite being the biggest investor into the United States, Japan has been pinched by steep levies imposed by Trump on imports of cars, steel and aluminum.

The country is included in Trump’s blanket 10 percent levy, although the US leader has paused his “reciprocal” duty of 24 percent. Trump also paused “reciprocal” duties of 46 percent on Vietnam and 49 percent on Cambodia, where some Japanese companies are thought to have shifted an increasing share of production in recent years, partly to avoid the fallout from the last US-China trade war.

Ishiba is also expected to bring up issues related to China’s growing aggression in the East and South China Sea. Chinese and Japanese patrol vessels in the East China Sea have routinely staged dangerous face-offs around disputed islands. Vietnam and the Philippines have also seen tense territorial spats in the hotly contested South China Sea with Chinese vessels. “There are attempts by China to unilaterally change the status quo by force, and we would like to further strengthen our security cooperation” with Hanoi and Manila, Ishiba said. – AFP