Kyodo News Digest: July 8, 2025
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Trump says 25% tariffs to be slapped on Japan, S. Korea on Aug. 1
WASHINGTON - The United States will impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Japan and South Korea starting Aug. 1, President Donald Trump said Monday, citing trade imbalances and further ramping up pressure on the key U.S. allies to make compromises to get deals done.
In nearly identical letters addressed to the leaders of Japan and South Korea, which Trump posted in full on his Truth Social platform, he told each that trade relations with his country have been "far from Reciprocal."
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Taiwan's Foxconn mulls buying part of Nissan plant for EV production
TOKYO - Taiwan's electronics giant Foxconn is considering purchasing part of a factory owned by Nissan Motor Co. to utilize in the manufacturing of electric vehicles, a source familiar with the matter said Monday.
Foxconn is also exploring the possibility of jointly operating Nissan's signature Oppama plant in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, the source said. The site has been eyed as one of the seven plants to be shuttered as part of the struggling Japanese automaker's restructuring plans.
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Japan downgrades May economic view to "worsening," signals recession
TOKYO - The government on Monday downgraded its assessment of Japan's economy for May to "worsening," using the designation for the first time in around five years and signaling the country is likely in a recession.
The Cabinet Office's assessment is the most pessimistic of the five-level evaluation and is due partly to a fall in exports to the United States. The term "worsening" was last used in July 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Over 800 suspected of cheating on TOEIC English exam in Japan
TOKYO - At least 803 people in Japan are believed to have cheated on an English proficiency test between May 2023 and June 2025, the test's administrator said Monday, adding it has notified the examinees of the nullification of their exam results and a five-year ban on retaking the test.
The findings by the Institute for International Business Communication come after Wang Li Kun, a Chinese graduate student at Kyoto University, was arrested for allegedly trying to take TOEIC -- the Test of English for International Communication -- using another person's ID in May.
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Japan logs current account surplus of 3.44 trillion yen in May
TOKYO - Japan posted a current account surplus of 3.44 trillion yen ($23.6 billion) in May, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday.
The current account balance is one of the widest gauges of international trade.
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Lawson to offer overnight stay at parking lots for people in vehicles
TOKYO - Japanese convenience store operator Lawson Inc. said on Monday that it will launch a new paid service to offer its stores' parking lots to travelers spending the night in their vehicles amid soaring accommodation costs.
The company will hold a trial at six outlets in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, from July 14 through June next year, with plans to expand the service nationwide. Expecting young people to use the service, it plans to charge 2,500 yen ($17) to 3,000 yen per night.
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Japan sees no tidal anomalies after large Indonesia volcano eruption
TOKYO - A large volcanic eruption was observed on the Indonesian island of Flores on Monday, but no significant tidal anomalies have been recorded along the coasts of Japan or other countries, the Japanese weather agency said.
The eruption of the 1,584-meter peak sent an ash plume 18,000 meters into the air, according to Indonesian authorities, who have banned people from approaching within 6 kilometers of the crater.
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China marks 88th anniversary of skirmish that led to war with Japan
BEIJING - China held a ceremony Monday to mark the 88th anniversary of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident that led to the start of a full-blown war with Japan, attended by Cai Qi, the No. 5 figure in the ruling Communist Party, and the country's top diplomat Wang Yi.
Zhang Youxia, a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, and other top-ranked uniformed officers also attended the annual event held at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, located near the bridge in southwestern Beijing, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
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Video: Baby Japanese macaques on uninhabited island in Miyazaki Prefecture
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The Diplomat
an hour ago
- The Diplomat
The Rising Force of Japan's Ultra-Nationalist, Anti-Immigration Sanseito Party
What began as a fringe movement is now gaining traction, driven by voter dissatisfaction with mainstream political parties and a strong online following. 'Japan First' is the signature slogan of the controversial Sanseito party, which is becoming a serious choice for voters ahead of this month's upper house election. The party, which launched on YouTube in 2020 as a fringe political movement promoting a conservative stance on economic security and immigration, is gaining momentum among social media savvy men in the 30s to 50s age bracket. The self-described 'party for citizens' now polls ahead of many established opposition parties in the run-up to the upper house election on July 20. Its core policies call for the preservation of traditional culture, the revival of the 'true Japanese spirit,' anti-globalization and agricultural self-sufficiency. This includes opposition to vaccines, LGBT rights, immigration and nuclear power. Currently, it boasts five lawmakers in the National Diet, mostly through lawmakers and independents who have changed their affiliation and joined Sanseito after the 2022 upper house election. For the 2025 election, the party is fielding candidates nationwide, galvanizing support with anti-establishment slogans. The party presents itself as an alternative to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-Komeito coalition. Sanseito aims to secure six seats in the upcoming election. As campaigning intensifies, the party has sought to clarify its position on foreigners and immigration amid criticism it is normalizing xenophobia in Japan. Kamiya Sohei, who now leads the party, addressed foreign reporters at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan on Thursday, July 3. At the press conference, Kamiya reiterated the party's hardline stance on immigration but framed the issue as a matter of national protection rather than cultural exchange. He said Japan needs tougher policing and regulation if it continues to accept more foreigners, citing concerns that foreigners have a tendency to exploit legal loopholes and commit crimes. In particular, he voiced concern about migrants who leave their assigned workplaces due to poor conditions and then turn to pickpocketing, petty theft, or organized crime to survive. 'We are not in any way intending to exclude foreign workers who are here legally, who are working legally side by side with the Japanese, with jobs,' he clarified. On the issue of falling birthrates, Kamiya described demographic shifts as a manageable trend, rather than a national crisis. He shared Sanseito's vision of Japan as a trailblazer in human-centered technological innovation to offset its dependence on foreign labor. The party advocates for robotics, automation and AI in sectors like elder care, healthcare, and agriculture — areas hit hardest by workforce shortages. Kamiya stressed that the party opposes accepting migrants in order to substitute the projected fall in the Japanese workforce. He said the aim was to prevent cases where workers are recruited under false pretenses by brokers and end up in low-paid, exploitative jobs abroad. Sanseito has placed agriculture at the heart of its politics. It's framed not only as a food issue but as a matter of national resilience and cultural identity. The party has proposed a 10 trillion yen investment over the next decade to double Japan's food self-sufficiency rate. At 38 percent, Japan's food self-sufficiency rate ranks among the lowest in the OECD. Sanseito aims to establish year-long emergency food reserves in every municipality by 2030. It argues that true sovereignty requires the ability to feed the population without dependence on foreign imports. Sanseito also seeks to reclassify farmers as public-sector workers, expand organic farming, and integrate traditional cuisine into school lunch programs. The effort is part policy and part narrative, positioning farming not just as economic activity but as moral duty and the essence of what it means to be Japanese. The U.S. has made increased access to Japan's rice market a condition for any trade agreement. It's an ultimatum Tokyo continues to resist, insisting that rice remains off the negotiating table. Kamiya warned that importing American rice would devastate Japan's domestic rice farmers. 'We do not believe U.S. rice should be imported into Japan,' he said, citing fears of collapse in the country's rice-farming sector. He also criticized past trade concessions Japan had made, particularly in agriculture, to protect the auto industry, saying the time for these types of trade-offs had passed. 'Japanese agriculture is already at its limit,' Kamiya said. In response to U.S. tariff threats, he called for a recalibration of the bilateral trade relationship, pointing out that Japanese consumers spend trillions of yen annually on American digital and IT products. Instead of yielding to U.S. pressure, he argued, Japan should offset automotive export losses by relaxing decarbonization rules and cutting domestic auto taxes to bolster internal demand. Sanseito's rhetoric offers a glimpse into the tensions shaping the country's political future. The degree to which Sanseito's message translates from online support to votes on July 20 will determine whether it remains a digital phenomenon or becomes a durable force in Japanese politics.
The Diplomat
an hour ago
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The Path to a US-India Trade Deal Lies Through Economic Security
A broader trade agreement, including cooperation on key supply chains, foreign investment, and advanced technologies makes a deal more likely and can help the U.S. and India more effectively counter China. Negotiations for a U.S.-India trade deal have been progressing at breakneck pace, as officials rush to reach an agreement before President Donald Trump's July 9 tariff deadline. India being near the front of the line is surprising, given that the two countries have consistently imposed high trade barriers and haven't signed a deal despite years of discussions. But Delhi is ready to negotiate because it sees an even bigger geoeconomic play: undercut China's status as a leading manufacturing hub and destination for investment by securing key supply chains and investing in advanced technologies. To seal the deal, Washington and Delhi should put economic security issues at the heart of the agreement. Getting to yes will require overcoming a long history of nos. In 2019, the U.S. removed India from the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, and India imposed retaliatory tariffs on 28 U.S. goods in response to earlier Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. While mutual tech and defense cooperation increased during the Biden administration, and India joined the non-trade pillars of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, there was little progress in improving market access apart from the removal of previous tariffs and resolution of WTO disputes. Despite Trump's recent optimism, ongoing negotiations for a first tranche deal are facing several hurdles, largely due to U.S. demands for lower trade barriers for steel and agricultural products. The task of lowering tariffs and non-tariff barriers for agriculture is especially politically costly for the Indian government, given that 46 percent of the workforce is involved in agriculture. While still willing to negotiate, Indian officials have signaled their preference for a good deal that puts national interest first rather than just a deal, which may defer discussions on tariffs for key industries and constituencies to a future round of negotiations. Washington and New Delhi's mutual economic dependence on China presents yet another opportunity for collaboration in national interest. The U.S. and India are reliant on China for a variety of goods, ranging from steel and rare earths to solar cells and pharmaceutical inputs, which are vital for commercial industry as well as national security needs. Recent episodes, including China's export ban on rare earths, have highlighted just how vulnerable their respective economies are to Chinese economic coercion. This dependence is holding back the U.S.-India economic partnership, and while reducing tariffs and other trade barriers is an important step, addressing the dragon in the room can cement this relationship as 'the defining partnership of the 21st century.' To this end, policymakers must consider deepening cooperation in three core pillars of economic security — securing supply chains, building resilience against foreign economic coercion, and building an allied ecosystem for advanced technologies — to enhance the value of a trade deal and address common security concerns. Collaboration on supply chains should include sectors critical to economic and national security, and where there is a clear dependence on China. Obvious candidates include pharmaceuticals and critical minerals, where China either manufactures a large proportion of inputs or possesses significant reserves and processing capacity. India is a key supplier of pharmaceutical products to the U.S. but is reliant on China for key starting materials. While India has already introduced incentives to onshore the production of inputs, there is space to coordinate industrial policy with the U.S. to fund the co-production of key starting materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients, or establish a strategic pharmaceutical ingredient reserve. Similarly, India's vast critical mineral reserves (rare earths, cobalt, and graphite) and push for domestic production could provide an opportunity for the U.S. to fund and transfer technology for refining projects in exchange for security of supply agreements. Building resilience against Chinese economic coercion also includes anticipating and mitigating the risk of Chinese capital in domestic markets while simultaneously filling the gap through bilateral investment. While both countries have robust investment screening frameworks, India has pursued a significantly more restrictive policy toward Chinese FDI since a border clash in 2020. Attitudes in Delhi may be softening, however, as India needs foreign investment to build out domestic manufacturing. To court investments from the U.S., Indian officials must consider expanding the automatic route for FDI approvals to more sectors, including raising the 74 percent cap for the burgeoning defense industry, and reducing tax rates for U.S. firms investing in target sectors and regions. Although FDI from India pales in comparison to that from China ($4.6 billion vs $28 billion in 2023), Washington should include Indian investment into a proposed CFIUS fast track to ensure it capitalizes on the growth of the world's fourth-largest economy. To win the global technology race, the U.S. must also look to India, among other allies, to manufacture and adopt advanced technologies. Capturing the market of the world's most populous country, after all, is perhaps the only way to achieve global adoption of tech platforms like AI and quantum based on U.S. IP. The above-mentioned reforms are key to increasing investment and developing secure supply chains, but the core problem of technology and knowledge transfer remains. The scrapping of the 'AI Diffusion Rule' is a step forward in increasing access to advanced chips among partners like India and Singapore, and the Trump administration should prioritize such countries in negotiations relaxing export controls for advanced tech. Given that Washington will be rightfully concerned about the flow of these chips to Russia and Iran, New Delhi should consider increasing resources to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and customs authorities to better enforce the SCOMET (special chemicals, organisms, materials, equipment, and technologies) list and implementing contractual solutions that impose liabilities on exporters shipping to Russia or Iran. While the U.S. and India often clash on tariffs and market access, a broader trade agreement including concrete provisions for cooperation on key supply chains, foreign investment, and advanced technologies may help them move past enduring pain points and more effectively counter China's coercive practices.
3 hours ago
Yen Tumbles to 2-Week Low over Trump Tariff Letter
Tokyo, July 8 (Jiji Press)--The yen tumbled to a two-week low around 146.50 per dollar on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said in a letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba that his country will impose a 25 pct reciprocal tariff on goods from Japan, higher than the 24 pct he announced in April. At 5 p.m., the dollar stood at 146.03-04 yen, up from 145.19-20 yen at the same time Monday. The euro was at 1.1759-1760 dollars, up from 1.1744-1745 dollars, and at 171.73-75 yen, up from 170.52-53 yen. Trump's tariff letter prompted yen selling, as speculation grew that Japan's trade deficit could expand, and that an economic slowdown could make it difficult for the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates, market sources said. The Japanese currency was also dampened against the dollar by a rise in U.S. Treasury yields amid concerns that Trump's tariffs could rekindle inflation in the United States, they said. On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the benchmark Nikkei 225 average closed at 39,688.81, up 101.13 points from Monday's closing, with export-oriented stocks supported by the weaker yen. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
