Trump Announces Trade Deal With Japan

President Trump announced a trade framework with Japan on Tuesday, placing a 15% tax on goods imported from that nation. "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 the Country of 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 AP reports. The 15% tax on imported Japanese goods is a meaningful drop from the 25% tariff that Trump, in a recent letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said would be levied starting Aug. 1.

Key details remained unclear from Trump's post, such as whether Japanese-built autos would face a higher 25% tariff that Trump imposed on the sector. Reuters notes that autos make up more than a quarter of Japan's exports to the US. The US ran a $69.4 billion trade imbalance on goods with Japan last year, according to the Census Bureau. After a meeting with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier Tuesday, Trump said the tariff on imports from that country would be reduced from 20% to 19%.

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% baseline.