President Donald Trump announced that his administration has reached an agreement with Japan to lower its tariff rate to 15% in a post shared on his Truth Social account Tuesday (July 22).
“We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made. Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits,” Trump wrote. “This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it. Perhaps most importantly, Japan will open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products, and other things. Japan will pay Reciprocal Tariffs to the United States of 15%. This is a very exciting time for the United States of America, and especially for the fact that we will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Japan, one of the United States’ largest trading partners, will now face a rate that is lower than the 24% rate Trump threatened on April 2, as well as the 25% rate he referenced in a letter on July 7. The U.S. did, however, previously have a less than 2% rate on Japanese imports prior to Trump’s second term, according to World Bank data via NBC News.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba confirmed the deal, noting that 15% was among the lowest rate so far among the United States’ trade partners.
“We have exerted all our efforts to protect our national interests,” he told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday (July 23) via NBC News. “Among the countries that have a trade surplus with the United States, we have achieved the greatest results.”
Trump’s latest deadline for countries to make deals to avoid his own set tariff rates is August 1, though previous deadlines have been delayed before since his ‘Liberation Day’ in which he announced sweeping tariffs on April 2.
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