By Ryan Patrick Jones
(Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday he was picking George Glass, a former investment banker and diplomat notable for his criticisms of China, to serve as his ambassador to Japan.
“In my First Term, George was the U.S. Ambassador to Portugal. As a former President of an Investment Bank, George will bring his business acumen to the Ambassador’s position,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
During his 2017-2021 stint in Lisbon, Glass gained prominence for warning against Beijing’s investments in strategic sectors in Portugal and its mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
His selection comes amid straining ties between Tokyo and Beijing over a raft of issues from trade to territorial disputes.
Japan hosts the largest overseas contingent of U.S. forces, including Washington’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier strike group, on China’s doorstep.
Among Japan’s fears about Trump’s return are whether he will push Tokyo to pay more towards that U.S. military presence or adopt protectionist trade measures that could hurt Japanese firms.
Asked about Glass at a news conference on Tuesday, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said Tokyo looked forward to “elevating the Japan-U.S. alliance to new heights with the next administration.”
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba failed in an attempt to get a meeting with Trump last month. Trump said on Monday he was open to meeting Ishiba before he takes office on Jan. 20.
Glass, a businessman from Oregon, is a devout Catholic and was a top fundraiser for Trump’s 2024 election campaign.
He founded Portland-based investment bank Pacific Crest Securities, serving as president and vice-chair between 1990 and 2014, and then started real estate business MGG Development LLC in 2015.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto and John Geddie and Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo; Editing by Jamie Freed)
