Trump Cuts South Korea Drills, Rattles Asian Allies
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- Trump cut back military exercises with South Korea last week, calling them hostile to Pyongyang and reinforcing regional fears about US security commitments, per Eurasia Group's Jeremy Chan.
- Japan is bracing for Trump to demand a sharp hike in cost-sharing for US forces stationed there; former defence minister Itsunori Onodera called the prospect of US-North Korea rapprochement "extremely troubling" for Tokyo.
- North Korea fired ballistic missiles off its east coast the same day Trump made overtures, triggering alerts in South Korea and Japan.
- Taiwan expects Washington to break a $14 billion arms sales package into smaller chunks to avoid upsetting Beijing ahead of Trump's summit with Xi Jinping next month.
- The USS George Washington, America's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier in Asia, departed for the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, stirring concern that US deterrence against China is being eroded.
- India is "very, very cautious" about committing to long-term defence deals with Washington after Trump's steep tariffs and his repeated claims of mediating an India-Pakistan ceasefire.
- The Pentagon renamed its Asia military headquarters from Indo-Pacific Command to Pacific Command in June; some analysts say the change signals India is no longer as strategically important to Washington (the Pentagon denied any such shift).
Why it matters: Japan is bracing for a potentially sharp hike in what it pays to host US forces; Taiwan expects a $14 billion arms package to be split into smaller chunks to appease Beijing; and India, citing Trump's tariffs and ceasefire claims, is now "very, very cautious" about long-term defence deals. Three of Washington's most important Asian partners are visibly recalibrating at once.
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