Hegseth says U.S. never demanded Japan defense spending hike

In his first meeting with new Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, U.S. defense chief Pete Hegseth said Washington never demanded that Tokyo further hike its defense spending, calling Japan’s current plans “wonderful.”

“We talked about training and capabilities and spending and all the ways in which each of our countries are committing to both our individual defense and our mutual defense,” Hegseth told a joint news conference with Koizumi in Tokyo on Wednesday. “But there were certainly no demands placed on Japan from the United States.”

Trump administration officials, however, have repeatedly called on Tokyo to further ramp up military expenditures, especially after the United States’ NATO allies agreed in July on a spending target of 5% of gross domestic product by 2035, with 3.5% dedicated to core needs such as defense equipment and 1.5% to other investments such as defense-related infrastructure.