Reuters: Japan's Trillion-Dollar Investment for Trump Tariffs - From "Great" to "Spoiled"
Reuters, July 8. This February, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba proposed a $1 trillion investment plan to U.S. President Trump to ease trade tensions, and Trump praised the "great relationship" between the two sides, saying "there would be no problem at all." However, just five months later, Trump criticized Japan as "spoiled" on social media, accusing it of not buying American rice, and officially informed Prime Minister Ishiba on July 8 that tariffs of 25% would be imposed on Japanese goods exported to the United States starting August 1. Japan's carefully designed trade strategy to win over Trump has completely failed. To avoid the sensitive election on July 20 and to prevent opening up politically sensitive agricultural product markets, Tokyo's negotiation team had been insisting for months on using investment commitments as the main bargaining chip. Four Japanese government sources familiar with the negotiations said that from April to June, a team led by Ishiba's close associate and Economic Minister Akira Kurosawa visited the U.S. seven times, promising investments in energy and steel sectors, aiming to secure the cancellation of U.S. tariffs on Japan's key automotive industry (which accounts for one-fifth of Japan's total exports and employs one-tenth of the country's workers) and to prevent U.S. demands for Japan to lower agricultural tariff rates. Although the initial steps seemed to work and Kurosawa had once optimistically expected an agreement during the G7 summit in Canada in mid-June, the negotiations eventually hit a deadlock. Kurosawa admitted on June 10 that he felt "in thick fog." At the G7 summit, Trump showed little interest in trade issues, and Ishiba admitted after the summit that there were "understanding differences" between the two sides. Two weeks later, Trump exploded on social media, ultimately announcing the imposition of tariffs. Kazuhiro Maeshima, an expert on U.S. politics and foreign policy at Sophia University in Tokyo, interpreted: "This is a manifestation of Trump's frustration. Japanese companies need to find ways to operate without relying on the U.S." Faced with the looming threat of tariffs and domestic election pressure, there are divisions within the Japanese government about the next strategy. Some officials believe that agricultural barriers should be considered, while Kurosawa insists that the U.S. must first reduce car tariffs. Tokyo residents expressed disappointment over the failure of the negotiations. Hidetoshi Inada, a 64-year-old telecom company employee, said outside the Shinbashi Station in Tokyo: "Seeing this tariff figure, I don't know what the previous negotiations meant. The result is everything."
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1837083387904010/
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