WASHINGTON:
US President Donald Trump has announced a “massive” trade deal with Japan, as China said it would send its vice premier to US trade talks next week to secure its own agreement ahead of a looming deadline.
In an attempt to slash his country’s trade deficits, the US president has vowed to hit dozens of countries with punitive tariff hikes if they do not hammer out a pact with Washington by August 1.
The Japan agreement, along with another pact with the Philippines also announced Tuesday, means Trump has now secured five agreements since his administration promised “90 deals in 90 days” from April’s tariff delay.
The others are with Britain, Vietnam and Indonesia, which the White House said Tuesday would ease critical mineral export restrictions.
Negotiations are still ongoing with much larger US trading partners China, Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Representatives from China and the United States will meet next week in the Swedish capital Stockholm to try and hammer out a deal before an August 12 deadline agreed in May.
As the clock ticks down, China said Wednesday it would seek to “strengthen cooperation” with Washington at the talks, and confirmed vice premier He Lifeng would attend.
“We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday.
He said that under the deal, “Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits”.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg Television on Wednesday that Japan received a 15 percent tariff rate, down from the 25 percent threatened, as “they were willing to provide this innovative financing mechanism.”
“They are going to provide equity credit guarantees and funding for major projects in the US,” Bessent added.
Japanese exports to the United States were already subject to a 10 percent tariff, and this would have spiked to 25 percent come August 1 without a deal.
Duties of 25 percent on Japanese autos — an industry accounting for eight percent of Japanese jobs — were also already in place, plus 50 percent on steel and aluminum.
