Skip to playerSkip to main contentSkip to footer
  • 2 days ago
#US
#Japan
#BBCNews
US President Donald Trump says the US has agreed to a "massive" trade deal with Japan, one of the country's largest trading partners.

Japan has agreed to invest $550bn (£407bn) in the US while its goods sold to America would be taxed at 15% when they reach the country - below the 25% tariff Trump had threatened.

Trump said on social media that Japan would open its economy to US goods, including cars, trucks, rice and certain agricultural products.

Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/1rbfUog

For more news, analysis and features visit: www.bbc.com/news

#US #Japan #BBCNews

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:00So we start with the latest on trade and tariffs. It's called the largest trade deal in history
00:06by President Trump, who is talking about the agreement made with Japan earlier today. After
00:13weeks of negotiations, it is the most significant deal so far to come ahead of the August 1st
00:20deadline. That is the time when steep tariffs will come into effect for countries who have yet to
00:27broker a deal with the United States on trade. So President Trump says under the deal, Japanese
00:33goods will now be facing tariffs of some 15 percent. That's instead of the 25 percent tariff
00:40the president did threaten Japan with earlier. He also says that they have agreed that there'll be
00:48an investment at his direction of this much, $550 billion into the U.S. economy, as well as
00:57that Japan will open up its market to the U.S. goods, including cars and rice and other
01:04agricultural products. Well, let's discuss all of this with Jasper Cole, who is the expert
01:11director at Monarchs Group Japan. Jasper, lovely to see you. So what's your thinking on this deal?
01:18President Trump says it's a win-win, is it?
01:21It looks very much like a win-win from Japan's perspective. You know, obviously, 15 percent tariff
01:28is way better than 25 percent. Most importantly, for the car industry, the threat was actually 32 percent.
01:36So going from 32 to 15 for the car industry is a very good deal. And also, you know, President Trump
01:43now sort of shows his generosity towards what is, after all, America's most important ally here
01:52in Asia-Pacific. So it's a win-win. OK. And we saw that, didn't we, displayed on financial markets
01:58today in Japan. Most of the car makers up very strongly indeed. But when the detail comes through,
02:05we'll sort of really learn how this impacts Japan and the United States, won't we? Because
02:10this $550 billion investment, that's a lot of money Japan has to pay into the U.S.
02:17That's exactly right. It's perfectly possible. You know, there's a couple of interesting projects.
02:23You know, most important, a joint development of Alaska gas and oil to be delivered to Japan.
02:30There's also some increased sales of American rice to Japan, which the Japanese people need badly.
02:37But then last but not least, very importantly, you've got to remember that for the Japanese car
02:43industry, actually, the big competition is made-in-China cars now being very good. And as long
02:51as America keeps made-in-China cars off the streets of America, Japanese car companies are actually very
03:00happy to pay a 15 percent tariff, almost as a price for protection against made-in-China competition.
03:07In the meantime, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is in Japan. She's going to be talking
03:12trade. She'll go to China tomorrow and do the same thing. Japan, China, the EU, they're all pivoting
03:18in other directions, aren't they, as they respond to the threat from the United States?
03:23There's no question that the timing of President Trump announcing the deal, you know, just ahead
03:30of the EU getting closer to China, of the EU getting closer to Japan, you know, basically
03:37showing that America is on control of actually being able to divide and rule rather than allowing
03:44alliances against the United States to actually come through.
03:47Okay. Jasper Cole, great to get your reaction to the trade deal that's been announced by the both
03:54the U.S. and Japan. Let's go live now to our Asia Business Hub. Surinjana Tawari is there for us,
04:01following every detail as well. Surinjana, let's start with financial markets. I believe the trading
04:06day in Japan is now done. What happened? Yeah, investors really liking the sound of that deal between
04:14the U.S. and Japan. The Nikkei rising almost 4%, 3.73%. And get this, Toyota shares up to 13%. I mean,
04:27Honda and Nissan also climbing a lot. And we also saw that optimism go over to South Korea as well,
04:35with shares in Hyundai also rising as a result of the deal. South Koreans obviously will be hoping
04:41that they can clinch a similar deal to the U.S. and Japan. So as we heard, a 15% tariff for Japanese
04:50goods going into the United States, much lower, especially for the auto sector. But there are
04:56also some things that were left out. For example, no defence deals as part of this agreement. Also,
05:03steel and aluminium tariffs remain at 50%. So those are two things that President Trump really wanted to
05:11negotiate on. But he didn't get it. And Surinjana, the rumours were wry following news of this deal
05:18that the Prime Minister of Japan may soon resign as he feels he's done his job from that perspective.
05:25But he's now denying those rumours, Shigeru Oshiba. So give us your take on the turbulence
05:32in which this trade deal is coming.
05:35Yeah, absolutely. I mean, when the announcement came, we thought, oh, well, he's really improved
05:41his political capital, especially after those elections on the weekend, where when he lost
05:46control of both the upper house and the lower house, his party did rather. But yeah, with this
05:54trade deal, it looked like he was going to gain back some of that political capital. But then there
05:59are lots of questions about his leadership. Even now, there were media reports that he was going to
06:05announce that he was going to stand down. Now that's being walked back quite significantly. But the
06:11important thing is, with this trade deal, he's managed to get it over the line. The implementation
06:16is the problem because we've seen with so many of these so-called deals, they're actually only really
06:23frameworks. They haven't been signed yet. They've been announced by President Trump. They've been announced
06:27by other countries' leaders. And I should say as well, we also got confirmation of a deal or a
06:34framework between the Philippines president and President Trump, which is significant for this
06:39region. And this comes after the Indonesian deal, which was announced last week. We also got details and
06:45confirmation on that deal as well. And they're looking at about 19 percent tires going into the United
06:53States, which allows them to remain competitive with each other, those emerging economies in this region.

Recommended