Japan PM Ishiba vows to stay on after party loses majority in upper house election
The embattled premier told a news conference he would remain in office to oversee tariff talks with the United States and other pressing matters such as rising consumer prices that are straining the world's fourth-largest economy.
"While I painfully feel my serious responsibility over the election results, I believe I must also fulfil my responsibility I bear for the country and the people so as not to cause politics to stall or go adrift," Ishiba said. "Challenges such as global situation and natural disaster won't wait for a better political situation."
Facing a voter backlash over rising consumer prices, investors fear his administration will now be more beholden to opposition parties advocating for tax cuts and welfare spending that the world's most indebted country can ill afford.
Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and coalition partner Komeito returned 47 seats, short of the 50 seats it needed to ensure a majority in the 248-seat upper chamber in an election where half the seats were up for grabs.
The LDP, which has led Japan for most of its postwar history, is still the leading party in both houses of the Diet, the country's national legislature. But the result Sunday follows Ishiba's coalition losing its majority in last October's lower house election, stung by past corruption scandals.
Ishiba said Monday that the LDP and Komeito would remain coalition partners.
WATCH l Recap of last year's lower house election:
Snap Election: How Japanese politics just went off a cliff | About That
9 months ago
Centrist, far-right parties make gains
Some senior LDP lawmakers were also quietly voicing doubts over whether Ishiba should stay, according to local media reports on Monday.
Among them was former prime minister Taro Aso, leader of a powerful faction within the ruling party, who said he "couldn't accept" Ishiba staying on, Japan's TV Asahi reported. Senior party members including Aso met on Sunday evening to discuss whether Ishiba should resign, Sankei newspaper reported.
The leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDPJ), Yoshihiko Noda, said on Sunday he is considering submitting a vote of non-confidence in the Ishiba administration as the result showed it did not have voters' trust.
The CDPJ returned 22 seats in the ballot, finishing second.
The far-right Sanseito party clocked the biggest gains of the night, adding 14 seats to one elected previously.
Launched on YouTube during the pandemic by spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the party found wider appeal with its "Japanese First" campaign and warnings about a "silent invasion" of foreigners. Dragging once-fringe rhetoric into the mainstream, its success could mark the arrival of populist politics in Japan, which until now has failed to take root as it has in the United States and western Europe.
Sanseito's party leader Sohei Kamiya, a former supermarket manager and English teacher, has previously pointed to Germany's AfD and Reform UK as a possible blueprint for future success.
"The political situation has become fluid and could lead to a leadership change or the reshuffling of the coalition in coming months, but Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will likely stay to complete the tariff negotiations with the U.S. for now," said Oxford Economics' lead Japan economist Norihiro Yamaguchi.
Japan's chief tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa departed for trade talks in Washington on Monday morning, his eighth visit in three months.
The world's fourth-largest economy faces U.S. tariffs of 25 per cent imposed by the White House, effective Aug. 1, despite talks that initially showed promise. Trump earlier this month hammered Japan over what he said was Tokyo's reluctance to import U.S.-grown rice, and accusing Japan of engaging in "unfair" autos trade. He has also called on Japan to import more U.S. oil. Japan is seeking concessions for its large automobile industry as talks continue with the Trump administration.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Trump shocks markets with scaled-back copper tariff, U.S. prices plunge
President Donald Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, July 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) The United States will impose a 50 per cent tariff on copper pipes and wiring, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, but details of the levy fell short of the sweeping restrictions expected and left out copper input materials such as ores, concentrates and cathodes. The surprise move dragged down U.S. copper prices more than 17 per cent on the Comex exchange HGc2 and unwound a premium over the London global benchmark CMCU3 that had grown in recent weeks, with shipments diverted there in anticipation of higher domestic prices. 'Markets are now busily repricing refined copper much lower after Trump's epic backflip on his own import tariff policy,' said Tom Price, an analyst at the London brokerage Panmure Liberum. 'Someone must have finally got through to (Trump) that the U.S. economy simply can't afford this new trade-hit.' Freeport-McMoRan is likely to be among the most harmed by the trimmed tariff, according to RBC Capital Markets, with Hudbay Minerals, Arizona Sonoran and others developing mines in the country also affected. Trump first teased the tariff in early July, implying that it would apply to all types of the red metal, ranging from cathodes produced by mines and smelters to wiring and other finished products. Yet in a proclamation released by the White House, the administration said the tariff will apply starting this Friday only to pipes, tubes and other semi-finished copper products, as well as products that copper is heavily used to manufacture, including cable and electrical components. The move aids manufacturers, but does little to boost the constrained U.S. copper mining industry, which for years has asked Washington for permitting reform or other steps that could fuel growth. 'Copper is being imported into the United States in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States,' Trump said in his proclamation. The tariffs will exclude copper scrap and copper concentrates, mattes, cathodes and anodes, some of the main products of copper mines and smelters. The move is essentially a boost for Chile and Peru, two of the world's largest copper miners and major suppliers to the United States. The tariff details sparked a 'massive market surprise,' said Natalie Scott-Gray, senior metals analyst at the consultancy group StoneX, adding that she expects U.S. copper prices to fall further. Anant Jatia, founder and chief investment officer at Greenland Investment Management, a hedge fund specializing in commodity arbitrage trading, told Reuters he expects London copper prices to surpass U.S. prices in the short term as American inventories build. More possible The measure came after a U.S. investigation under Section 232, which Trump ordered in February. The report was delivered to the White House on June 30 by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to the proclamation. Trump said he may still impose further tariffs, and has asked Lutnick to provide an update on the domestic copper market by June 2026. At that point, Trump will evaluate whether to impose a phased universal import duty on refined copper of 15 per cent starting in 2027, and of 30 per cent starting in 2028, he said. Along with tariffs, the order calls for steps to support the domestic copper industry, including requiring 25 per cent of high-quality scrap produced in the U.S. to also be sold within the country. Freeport, the largest U.S. copper producer, said it would comment after it reviewed Trump's order in detail. Chile's Codelco, the world's biggest copper producer, praised the exclusion of cathodes as a positive for the company and for Chile, which is the top supplier of refined copper to the U.S. BHP, which operates the world's largest copper mine in Chile, and Antofagasta, which ships copper from Chile to the U.S. and wants to build a U.S. copper mine, did not immediately reply to requests for comment. (Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon in Santiago, Ernest Scheyder in Houston, Divya Rajagopal in Toronto, and Pratima Desai and Polina Devitt in London; additional reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; writing by Ernest Scheyder; editing by Veronica Brown, Marguerita Choy and Rosalba O'Brien)
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Trump orders scaled-back on some copper imports, citing national security
Social Sharing The United States will impose a 50 per cent tariff on copper pipes and wiring, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, but details of the levy fell short of the sweeping restrictions that were expected and left out copper input materials such as ores, concentrates and cathodes. U.S. Comex copper futures plunged 19.5 per cent after the announcement, quickly unwinding a premium over the London global benchmark that had grown in recent weeks. Traders had assumed U.S. copper mines would see a financial benefit from the tariff. Trump first teased the tariff in early July, implying that it would apply to all types of the red metal, ranging from cathodes produced by mines and smelters to wiring and other finished products. But a proclamation released by the White House said the tariff, which kicks in on Friday, will apply only to semi-finished copper products and other products that heavily use copper when being manufactured. "Copper is being imported into the United States in such quantities and under such circumstances as to threaten to impair the national security of the United States," Trump said in his proclamation. The tariffs will exclude copper scrap and copper concentrates, mattes, cathodes and anodes, some of the main products of copper mines and smelters. The move is essentially a boost to Chile and Peru, two of the world's largest copper miners. "The newly announced copper tariffs are far from universal tariffs that markets were concerned about," said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the critical minerals security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's less punitive than markets initially expected." The measure came after a U.S. investigation under Section 232, which Trump ordered in February. The report was delivered to the White House on June 30 by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to the proclamation. That section of U.S. trade law allows the president to impose levies on certain goods that are said to threaten "national security." Trump said he may still impose further tariffs and has asked Lutnick to provide an update on the domestic copper market by June 2026. At that point, Trump will evaluate whether to impose a phased universal import duty on refined copper of 15 per cent starting in 2027 and of 30 per cent starting in 2028, he said. WATCH | How will U.S. copper tariffs affect Canada's trade talks?: How will U.S. copper tariffs affect Canada's trade talks? 22 days ago Along with tariffs, the order calls for steps to support the domestic copper industry, including requiring 25 per cent of high-quality scrap produced in the U.S. to also be sold within the country. Freeport-McMoRan, the largest U.S. copper producer, said it would comment after it reviewed Trump's order in detail. Chile's Codelco, the world's biggest copper producer, praised the exclusion of cathodes as a positive for the company and for Chile, which is the top supplier of refined copper to the U.S. BHP, which operates the world's largest copper mine in Chile, and Antofagasta, which ships copper from Chile to the U.S. and wants to build a U.S. copper mine, did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
How China's oil strategy seeks to cut the U.S. out
China's thirst for the world's oil has slowed dramatically. Andrew Chang explains how China is guaranteeing its energy security against possible U.S. intervention in the Malacca Strait and achieving dominance in renewables — all while electrifying its economy. Images provided by Getty Images, The Canadian Press and Reuters. @8:39 Credit: STR/Getty Images
