Ishiba may meet top U.S. tariff negotiator Scott Bessent in Tokyo this week
The prime minister is understood to be aiming for a path to agreement in the ongoing bilateral tariff negotiations by meeting with the U.S. top negotiator in person.
Bessent will attend the United States' "national day" event at the Osaka Expo on Saturday, in which the country's traditions and culture will be presented. The meeting with Ishiba is expected to take place in Tokyo.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump notified Japan of its plan to impose a 25% "reciprocal" tariff on all imports from the country, effective from Aug. 1. Positioning this date as the deadline for the bilateral negotiations, Ishiba has instructed the relevant Cabinet members to continue talks.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference on Tuesday, "We will vigorously explore the possibility of an agreement that will benefit both sides while protecting our national interests."
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Putting its other predatory interests aside for a moment, CPP ruling elites own, protect, and profit from an industrial-scale cybercrime economy that generates an estimated $12-$19 billion annually – an amount that dwarfs the value of its licit industries (including its low-margin, tariff-vulnerable garment sector) and is equivalent to roughly half its formal GDP. Scam compounds dot the landscape, guarded by armed security, surrounded by barbed wire, and shielded invariably by corrupt ties to political elites. This is not crime exploiting a 'governance gap.' It is governance by criminality. Thailand has seen this reality up close, particularly in Poipet, the notorious border town where scams and casinos dominate. For years, it has more or less tolerated the status quo, benefitting from its own cross-border flows of cash, labor, and goods. 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And, it has made clear that it will protect its illicit economies at all costs – because those economies are what, in turn, protect it. If you want to move such a regime – to end a border dispute, balance a trade deficit, uphold basic universal commitments to rights, or any other end – you have to hit it where it hurts.
