For decades, American presidents have avoided speaking harshly about Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, eager to focus instead on deepening ties with Tokyo, which has been a steadfast ally since World War II.

数十年来，美国历任总统都避免对日本1941年袭击珍珠港一事发表严厉言论，而是热衷深化与东京的关系——二战后，日本始终是美国坚定的盟友。

Not so with President Trump.

特朗普总统却并非如此。

At an otherwise congenial meeting with Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in the Oval Office on Thursday, Mr. Trump invoked the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941, which led the United States into World War II. He was responding to a question about why Japan and other allies had received no advance notice of the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran.

周四，特朗普在椭圆形办公室与日本首相高市早苗会面，原本气氛融洽，期间特朗普提起了1941年12月7日日本发动的袭击，正是这场袭击导致美国卷入第二次世界大战。当时他正在回应一个提问，涉及为何美以对伊朗发动袭击之前，没有向日本等盟友提前通报。

“We didn’t tell anybody about it because we wanted surprise,” he said. “Who knows better about surprise than Japan, OK? Why didn’t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK? Right?”

“我们没告诉任何人，就是要出其不意，”他说。“谁比日本更懂出其不意呢，对吧？珍珠港事件，你们怎么没提前告诉我？对吧？”

There was some laughter from the officials and journalists gathered in the room. “You believe in surprise, I think, much more so than us,” he added.

在场的官员与记者中传来几声笑。他接着说：“我看，你们比我们更相信出其不意。”

As Mr. Trump spoke, Ms. Takaichi widened her eyes and appeared to take a deep breath. She kept her arms crossed in her lap and did not speak.

特朗普说话时，高市早苗瞪大了双眼，似乎深吸了一口气。她双臂交叉放在腿上，全程一言不发。

The remark was the latest example of Mr. Trump’s penchant for tossing aside diplomatic norms.

这番言论再次体现了特朗普一贯无视外交惯例的行事风格。

After the end of World War II, President Harry S. Truman used the attack on Pearl Harbor to justify American efforts to remake Japanese society and to impose a pacifist Constitution. (The United States led the Allies’ occupation of Japan from 1945 until 1952.) The Constitution forced Japan to renounce war and put limits on its military, making Tokyo reliant on the United States for protection.

二战结束后，杜鲁门总统以珍珠港遇袭为由，推动美国重塑日本社会，并向日本施加了一部和平宪法。（1945年至1952年，美国领导了盟军对日本的军事占领。）这部宪法迫使日本放弃战争，限制其军事力量发展，让东京在防务上不得不依赖美国。

But during the Cold War, the United States shifted its official portrayal of the attack, describing it as a historical tragedy rather than pointing fingers at Japan. American officials were eager to keep Tokyo as an ally as communism spread in Asia, and to form security and economic pacts.

但冷战期间，美国调整了对此次袭击的官方表述，将其描述为一场历史悲剧，而非指责日本。随着共产主义在亚洲蔓延，美国官员迫切希望将日本留在盟友阵营，与日本缔结安全与经济协定。

In 2016, 75 years after Imperial Japanese warplanes destroyed the Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor, President Barack Obama visited the site of the attack with Shinzo Abe, then Japan’s prime minister, who offered condolences “to the souls of those who lost their lives here.” Mr. Obama and Mr. Abe laid wreaths made of white peace lilies at the memorial.

2016年，也就是日本帝国战机在珍珠港摧毁美国太平洋舰队75周年之际，时任美国总统奥巴马与时任日本首相安倍晋三一同造访了袭击遗址。安倍晋三向“在此遇难的英灵” 致以哀悼，二人还在纪念碑前献上了白色和平百合花环。

Mr. Obama described in detail what occurred on the day of the attack, highlighted acts of heroism by American service members and said that the visit of Mr. Abe “reminds us of what is possible between nations and between peoples.”

奥巴马详细讲述了遇袭当天的事件经过，重点讲述了美军士兵的英勇事迹，并表示安倍晋三的此次到访“让我们看到国家与人民之间，能够达成怎样的可能”。

Mr. Trump’s predecessors have avoided speaking at length about Pearl Harbor in the presence of Japanese leaders because “there’s been a really profound process of reconciliation between the United States and Japan,” said Mireya Solís, director of the Center for Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

华盛顿布鲁金斯学会亚洲政策研究中心主任米雷娅·索利斯表示，特朗普的历任前任都会避免在日本领导人面前大谈珍珠港事件，因为“美日两国之间已经走过了一段极其深刻的和解历程”。

Mr. Trump’s remarks were “unusual — a shock,” she said. “The purpose of this visit is to emphasize the shared vision — the strong bonds that unite Japan and the United States,” she said. “Not the divisive past and the bitter rivalry and conflict of the war.”

特朗普的此番言论“不同寻常——令人震惊，”她说。“此次访问的核心目的是强调两国的共同愿景——联结美日两国的牢固纽带，”她说。“而不是那些制造分裂的过往，以及战争年代的尖锐对立与冲突。”