US-Japan Relations in an Era of Regional Wars

Amidst an increasingly complex global landscape marked by simultaneous regional wars in Europe and the Middle East, this symposium will examine how these theaters are absorbing U.S. strategic commitment and resources. Against this backdrop, and in the immediate aftermath of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing—where trade, Taiwan, the Iran war, and the Strait of Hormuz framed the agenda—the discussion will explore what this confluence means for the U.S. posture in the Indo-Pacific and the future of U.S.-Japan relations.

■Speaker: Richard Fontaine, Chief Executive Officer, Center for a New American Security (CNAS)

Biography:
Richard Fontaine is the Chief Executive Officer of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He serves concurrently as a member of Anthropic’s Long-Term Benefit Trust and as Executive Director of the Trilateral Commission’s North America group.
Prior to CNAS, he was foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain and worked at the State Department, the National Security Council (NSC), and on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He served as foreign policy advisor to the McCain 2008 presidential campaign and subsequently as minority deputy staff director on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Fontaine is the coauthor, with Ambassador Robert Blackwill, of Lost Decade: The US Pivot to Asia and the Rise of Chinese Power. He served on the Defense Policy Board from 2021 to 2025 and has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He holds an MA in international affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).