WASHINGTON, United States (US): US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has struck a “massive” trade deal with Japan, under which the Asian country has agreed to a so-called reciprocal tariff of 15 per cent, Kyodo News reported.
Japan has secured concessions as well, with the Trump administration halving its additional 25 per cent auto tariff for cars from the Asian country.
“There has never been anything like it,” Trump said on social media, adding that Japan will open its markets for cars, trucks, rice, certain farm products and other goods.
The announcement was made after Japan’s top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, met with Trump at the White House.
Akazawa arrived in Washington on Monday for his eighth round of in-person negotiations with US Cabinet members.
Japan was set to face a country-specific duty of 25 per cent on its goods if a deal had not been struck with the Trump administration by August 1, when a pause on Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, targeting dozens of major US trading partners, is due to expire.
Trump said, “at my direction”, Japan will invest USD550 billion (RM2.33 trillion) in the United States under the deal.
“This is a very exciting time for the United States of America, and especially for the fact that we will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump later said at an event at the White House that he “just signed the largest trade deal in history” with Japan, adding the two countries will form a joint venture for liquified natural gas in Alaska.
In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s agreement, Trump indicated that striking a deal with Japan before the August 1 deadline would be difficult.
He intensified pressure by repeating his frequent accusation that the key US ally had been reluctant to import American cars and agricultural products.
Trump announced sweeping ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs on April 2, targeting dozens of countries with which the US runs trade deficits, before pausing them for 90 days to provide time for talks.
The Trump administration later extended the pause to August 1 amid little progress in its talks with major trading partners, also including South Korea and the European Union.
Since the launch of Japan’s talks with the US in mid-April, Akazawa’s team has prioritised persuading the administration to review its auto tariff, which Trump raised by 25 percentage points to 27.5 per cent in April.
Akazawa wrote on the X social media platform that “my mission is completed”.
Japan’s deal is the fifth since the start of Trump’s aggressive tariff campaign during his second term, following those reached with Britain, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, which were also announced by the US president on Tuesday. – BERNAMA-ANADOLU
