Trump announces trade deal with Japan that lowers threatened tariff to 15%
'This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs – There has never been anything like it,' Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that the United States will continue to always have a great relationship with Japan. The president said Japan would invest at my direction 550 billion into the US and would open its economy to American autos and rice. The 15 percent tax on imported Japanese goods is a meaningful drop from the 25 percent rate that Trump, in a recent letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said would be levied starting Aug. 1.
With the announcement, Trump is seeking to tout his ability as a dealmaker – even as his tariffs, when initially announced in early April, led to a market panic and fears of slower growth that for the moment appear to have subsided. Key details remained unclear from his post, such as whether Japanese-built autos would face a higher 25 percent tariff that Trump imposed on the sector. But the framework fits a growing pattern for Trump, who is eager to portray the tariffs as win for the US. His administration says the revenues will help reduce the budget deficit and more factories will relocate to America to avoid the import taxes and cause trade imbalances to disappear.
But the wave of tariffs continues to be a source of uncertainty about whether it could lead to higher prices for consumers and businesses if companies simply pass along the costs. The problem was seen sharply Tuesday after General Motors reported a 35 percent drop in its net income during the second quarter as it warned that tariffs would hit its business in the months ahead, causing its stock to tumble.
As the Aug. 1 deadline for the tariff rates in his letters to world leaders is approaching, Trump also announced a trade framework with the Philippines that would impose a tariff of 19 percent on its goods while American-made products would face no import taxes. The president also reaffirmed his 19 percent tariffs on Indonesia.
The US ran a 69.4 billion trade imbalance on goods with Japan last year, according to the Census Bureau. America had a trade imbalance of 17.9 billion with Indonesia and an imbalance of 4.9 billion with the Philippines. Both nations are less affluent than the US, and an imbalance means America imports more from those countries than it exports to them.
The president is set to impose the broad tariffs listed in his recent letters to other world leaders on Aug. 1, raising questions of whether there will be any breakthrough in talks with the European Union. At a Tuesday dinner, Trump said the EU would be in Washington on Wednesday for trade talks. The Trump administration has a separate negotiating period with China that is currently set to run through Aug. 12 as goods from that nation are taxed at an additional 30 percent baseline.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he would be in the Swedish capital of Stockholm next Monday and Tuesday to meet with his Chinese counterparts. Bessent said his goal is to shift the American economy away from consumption and to enable more consumer spending in the manufacturing-heavy Chinese economy.
'President Trump is remaking the US into a manufacturing economy,' Bessent said on the Fox Business Network show Mornings with Maria. 'If we could do that together, we do more manufacturing, they do more consumption. That would be a home run for the global economy.'
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And when pressure was put on Israel and the US to offer an alternative to the UN and other organizations, Netanyahu created the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a US-Israeli entity manned by armed contractors and protected by the Israeli army, which took responsibility for feeding more than 2 million souls. The outcome is tragic and, to say the least, criminal. So far, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been gunned down by Israel and the armed contractors as they huddled like animals to receive meals. But even then, Israel poured cement into water wells, denied hospitals access to fuel and medication, and continued to strike safe zones where hapless civilians were ordered to move by the Israeli army for their safety. The irony is that, even as Israel knowingly and deliberately pushed the Strip into starvation, Western governments, including the US, did nothing to stop it. 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Despite all the war crimes that Israel has committed in Gaza, the Palestinians are not leaving. Israel has had to abandon its grotesque proposal to set up a so-called humanitarian city on the remains of Rafah — a concentration camp no different to the ones the Nazis built for European Jews ahead of their 'final solution.' The images of starving Palestinian children are a stain on the face of humanity, but they will especially haunt Israelis and those who enabled this genocide. It could be brought to an end today. Trump must tell Israel to do so. Trump's admission that Gazans are starving and that the war must end requires bold action. Such action must be done in collaboration with Western countries that have leverage remaining over Israel. Ending the humanitarian crisis is a priority. This collective message must be sent to Netanyahu as soon as possible. Ending the blockade is the first step. 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The Palestinian issue is, at its heart, not humanitarian but political and the time has come to address it.
