In May 2016, when Justin Trudeau made his first appearance at a G7 summit, it was still possible to believe in a rules-based liberal international order. Taking his seat at the leaders’ table for a working lunch inside the Shima Kanko hotel, on Japan’s Kashiko Island, Trudeau, buttressed by winning a large majority in Canada’s general election the year before, must have felt secure.
That security was both tangible and intangible. It took shape outside the luxury resort in the form of the hulking Izumo-class helicopter destroyers of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force, deployed around the tranquil waters of Ago Bay to guard the global leadership of the West.
