Japan’s new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, informed U.S. President Donald Trump that halting imports of Russian LNG (liquefied natural gas) would be ‘difficult’ due to Japan’s energy security requirements, according to a report by Reuters, citing two Japanese government officials.
The matter emerged during their bilateral meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday, where Takaichi, recently elected Japan’s first female prime minister, requested President Trump to consider Japan’s reliance on Russian gas.
Russian LNG accounts for roughly 9% of Japan’s total imports, with major trading firms Mitsui and Mitsubishi owning shares in Russia’s Sakhalin-2 project located in Russia’s Far East, as reported by Reuters.
Under the previous Biden administration, the U.S. urged its allies, including Japan, to stop buying Russian energy and support new sanctions targeting Russia’s top oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil. However, Tokyo cautioned that an immediate ban could be destabilizing.
As reported by the Nikkei, Takaichi told Trump that halting LNG imports would only benefit China and Russia.
Japan has steadily boosted its LNG imports from the United States in recent years as it prepares for the expiry of its long-term Sakhalin-2 agreements, most of which are set to end between 2028 and 2033. The country’s industry ministry has cautioned that substituting this supply could be costly and may lead to higher electricity prices.
At present, Japan sources less than 1% of its oil from Russia through a sanctions waiver that is scheduled to expire in December, with the bulk of its crude oil supply coming from the Middle East.
Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated after meeting Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato in Washington that the United States expects Japan to completely stop importing energy from Russia.
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