‘What do you want?’: Veteran diplomat says Trump administration ‘could not explain what they wanted’ to Japan during trade talks
In a stinging critique of Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, former US Assistant Secretary of Defense and veteran diplomat Chas Freeman has revealed just how disorganised Washington appeared during high-stakes negotiations—especially with key allies like Japan.
According to Freeman, the Japanese delegation visiting Washington during the Trump administration was met with bewildering ambiguity. Speaking about the meeting, Freeman, during an interview on the YouTube channel, recounted: “Their experience apparently was they went to talk to the American leadership on this matter, and the American leadership said ‘what are you offering?’ And the Japanese said ‘well, what is it that you want?’ And the Americans could not explain what they wanted.”
The remarks were highlighted in a tweet by French entrepreneur and geopolitical commentator Arnaud Bertrand, who described Freeman as “one of the rare senior US officials that I admire.”
Freeman also criticised the broader inconsistency of US trade policy under Trump, pointing to the administration’s unilateral imposition of tariffs—even on close allies—despite having signed trade deals. “The United States [broke] virtually every agreement it has agreed to in recent decades including the replacement for NAFTA with proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico that was negotiated by Mr. Trump in his first term,” he said.
That track record, Freeman argues, has eroded trust in the US as a credible negotiating partner. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of China. Far from being pressured into talks, Freeman believes Beijing has opted for strategic patience. “What is [China’s] incentive to negotiate with the US when the US has no stated objectives that make sense and no record of compliance with its own agreements? I think the Chinese have decided they will wait us out and see how Americans like Walmart and Amazon denuded of products.”
Bertrand, in his commentary, underlined the irony: Donald Trump, who often touts himself as a master “dealmaker,” appears to have undermined the very foundations of dealmaking—credibility and consistency. As the US heads into another election cycle with Trump as a likely contender, America’s trade partners may once again find themselves wondering: what does Washington actually want?
