Concerns over the durability of the US-Japan alliance and the threat of tariffs will loom large in Tokyo this week as Donald Trump’s defence secretary visits for high-level talks.

Pete Hegseth will meet defence minister Gen Nakatani on Sunday to discuss deeper military collaboration in a meeting that Nakatani said would have “great significance” for Japan’s security. Japanese officials said the talks could cover whether Tokyo would raise its planned spending on defence.

Hegseth’s trip comes a month after Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met the US president at the White House. Tokyo viewed that meeting as a big success, but officials and foreign policy experts said Japan, as with US allies from Canada to Germany, has grown more nervous about their alliance.