Asahi and Sankei reported that the governments of the United States and Japan agreed on Monday to hold an economic version of the “2+2” meeting in July and set up a joint task force on the development of next-generation semiconductors. The two governments also reportedly agreed on the importance of a stable energy supply. Sankei speculated that the move is aimed at strengthening U.S.-Japan cooperation on the economic security front to counter the hegemonic actions of China and Russia. The daily wrote that the two leaders agreed to cooperate in the area of semiconductors because of the growing need to secure a stable supply of semiconductors and address the shortage that emerged during the pandemic.