
Donald Trump announces trade deal with Japan
The president said Japan would invest 'at my direction' 550 billion dollars into the US and would 'open' its economy to American cars and rice.
The 15% tax on imported Japanese goods is a meaningful drop from the 25% rate that Mr Trump, in a recent letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said would be levied starting on August 1.
Early Wednesday, Mr Ishiba acknowledged the new trade agreement, saying it would benefit both sides and help them work together.
Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba acknowledged the new trade agreement (Kyodo News via AP)
With the announcement, Mr Trump is seeking to tout his ability as a dealmaker — even as his tariffs, when initially announced in early April led to a market panic and fears of slower growth that for the moment appear to have subsided.
Key details remained unclear from his post, such as whether Japanese-built cars would face a higher 25% tariff that Mr Trump imposed on the sector.
But the framework fits a growing pattern for Mr Trump, who is eager to portray the tariffs as a win for the US. His administration says the revenues will help reduce the budget deficit and more factories will relocate to America to avoid the import taxes and cause trade imbalances to disappear.
The wave of tariffs continues to be a source of uncertainty about whether it could lead to higher prices for consumers and businesses if companies simply pass along the costs.
The problem was seen sharply on Tuesday after General Motors reported a 35% drop in its net income during the second quarter as it warned that tariffs would hit its business in the months ahead, causing its stock to tumble.
A staff member distributes an extra edition of a newspaper reporting that President Donald Trump announced a trade framework with Japan (Eugene Hoshiko/AP)
As the August 1 deadline for the tariff rates in his letters to world leaders is approaching, Mr Trump also announced a trade framework with the Philippines that would impose a tariff of 19% on its goods, while American-made products would face no import taxes. The president also reaffirmed his 19% tariffs on Indonesia.
The US ran a 69.4 billion dollar trade imbalance on goods with Japan last year, according to the Census Bureau.
America had a trade imbalance of 17.9 billion dollars with Indonesia and an imbalance of 4.9 billion dollars with the Philippines. Both nations are less affluent than the US and an imbalance means America imports more from those countries than it exports to them.
The president is set to impose the broad tariffs listed in his recent letters to other world leaders on August 1, raising questions of whether there will be any breakthrough in talks with the European Union. At a Tuesday dinner, Mr Trump said the EU would be in Washington on Wednesday for trade talks.
'We have Europe coming in tomorrow, the next day,' Mr Trump told guests.
The president earlier this month sent a letter threatening the 27 member states in the EU with 30% taxes on their goods to be imposed starting on August 1.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Record
21 minutes ago
- Daily Record
The secret lunch that sparked the Rangers takeover and united one time saviour with new king of Ibrox
Paul Murray met Andrew Cavenagh over a meal and knew right away he was the man to take Rangers to a whole new level Paul Murray explains why he knew Andrew Cavenagh was right for Rangers | Hotline Live Paul Murray has revealed how he knew Andrew Cavenagh would become the new king of Ibrox after one lunch together in London. Former Rangers chairman Murray has spoken for the first time about his role in facilitating the transformational American takeover which has seen Cavenagh and the San Francisco 49ers take control of the Glasgow club. As part of a fascinating exclusive interview with our agenda setting online show Hotline Live, Murray has told how he flew south to meet with the health insurance tycoon in November last year to begin exploratory discussions about a possible multi-million pound deal. How he left that meeting convinced that Cavenagh and his consortium, including 49ers chief Paraag Marathe, were the right men to take control. And how he immediately set-up the negotiations with Dave King which led to Cavenagh's buyout. Murray said: 'If you spend some time with him you realise he's a serious guy. After I had met him for the first time, for lunch, I messaged him on my way back to the saying, 'I think you and your colleagues would be great owners for the club'. 'I just kind of felt it. Having met tons of people over the years who came forward you just knew this was a different sort of animal. 'I've got an expression about 'proper people'. And what you're dealing with here is a proper guy. I don't know Paraag just as well but I think he's the same. That was my sense after the first meeting. 'So I introduced him to Dave who was the single largest shareholder and after some meetings and calls it became clear that Andrew and his colleagues wanted to get control of the club, 51 per cent, which they wouldn't get just by buying Dave's shares. 'At that point I then introduced Andrew to the club. He had to speak to the board and the other shareholders to try to piece together the deal. 'It was quite a complicated deal and that's why it took the best part of seven months to get from that initial meeting in London to the completion of the deal.' Record Sport broke the news of Cavenagh's plans in February this year. In May the deal to snap up a 51 per cent stake was concluded with Cavenagh appointed chairman and Marathe installed as his right hand man. And Murray is now urging the Rangers supporters to give their American owners time to get to grips with the task of turning their club around. He said: 'You've heard him speaking. He's quite a measured and considered guy, which I quite like. 'I've only met him a few times but in the dealings I've had with him, which were quite a few, I think he's a considered, measured guy who has obviously been very successful in business. 'He's not going to be prone to hyperbole. The danger in football is you get prone to the hyperbole, 'We're going to spend £100m and win the Champions League in 10 minutes'. 'I think we've got to be realistic and let these guys take their time, look at the situation and let them build it going forward.'


The Guardian
21 minutes ago
- The Guardian
RFK Jr wants bright artificial dyes out of food. Are Americans ready to let go?
The Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement celebrated this month after the US dairy industry voluntarily pledged to remove all artificial dyes from ice-cream by 2028. In April, US health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr prevailed upon the food industry to stop using artificial dyes, and many of the nation's largest food manufacturers, including Nestle, Kraft Heinz and PepsiCo, have already promised to comply. But the ice-cream pledge made Kennedy especially happy because, he said, ice-cream is his favorite food. Prepare to say goodbye to the brilliant pink (from red dye No 40) that signifies strawberry, the cool green (yellow 5 and blue 1) of mint chocolate chip, and the heroic combination of red 40, blue 1, and yellow 5 and 6 that makes up Superman. One of the goals of the Maha movement is to prevent childhood diseases, which Kennedy argues can be accomplished by, among other things, addressing the use of additives in ultra-processed foods. A recent study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics calculated that, in 2020, 19% of food products contained artificial dyes – 'the most egregious' additive, according to Kennedy. Those dyes, he claims, are responsible for a host of health issues, including cancer, hyperactivity and possibly autism. 'The American people have made it clear – they want real food, not chemicals,' Kennedy said in a statement. Aside from jokes on social media about Donald Trump's skin tone and Kennedy's alleged use of methylene blue (an artificial dye that some claim boosts 'mitochondrial efficiency' and longevity), the initiative has faced little political opposition. In January, when Joe Biden was still president, the FDA announced a ban on red dye No 3 scheduled to go into effect in 2027. Red 3, the FDA explained, was shown to cause cancer in rats, and while it does not show up in food in large enough quantities to affect humans, it still violates a law forbidding additives that contain carcinogens. Meanwhile, states as politically varied as West Virginia, Texas and California have already established their own bans or requirements that foods containing artificial dyes carry warning labels, citing the need to protect kids. (In the UK and the EU, restrictions on artificial dyes have been in place for years.) Why the fuss over food coloring? Are natural dyes really that much better for our health? 'They're better for some people's health,' says Jamie Alan, a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University. 'There is a very small percentage of children who are very sensitive to these dyes. And when they eat these dyes, they display behaviors that we sometimes associate with ADHD.' Alan stresses that there is no evidence that those kids actually develop ADHD. But research has found that after eating foods containing certain dyes, children, including those diagnosed with ADHD or autism, can show signs of hyperactivity, moodiness and inattentiveness. However many of these foods, particularly candy and soda, also contain sugar, which has also been connected to hyperactive behavior. Alan recommends that parents talk to a pediatrician and try an elimination diet to make sure the dye and not another ingredient is to blame. But she largely supports phasing out artificial dyes; most public health advocates think this is a good idea. 'In my opinion,' Alan says, 'because we're talking about children and because they are a vulnerable population, I do think this is a great thing to do. But I will recognize that it is not going to impact the vast majority of the population.' One group that the change in dyes will certainly affect is the food manufacturers themselves. Switching from artificial to natural dyes is a complex process, says Travis Zissu, the co-founder and innovation lead of Scale Food Labs in Golden, Colorado, which offers a program to help manufacturers with the dye conversion. Unlike artificial dyes, which are derived from petroleum, natural dyes come mostly from plants: turmeric, for example, is used for yellows; algae and butterfly pea flower for blues; lycopene from carrots and tomatoes for reds. These dyes can be less stable, so Scale's program begins with finding natural pigments that will not be affected by heat and other chemicals, followed by tests to determine which combination of dyes will produce the most reliable color. Next, Scale helps companies lock in contracts that will not force them to raise their prices too much and secure light-sensitive packaging to protect the colors. Finally, there are nine to 12 months of product testing to make sure production runs smoothly and that there are no adverse effects for consumers, such as red-dyed feces (something that has been known to happen with beet powder and extract; Alan says it's harmless, but admits it can be unnerving). But Zissu's biggest concern is that there won't be enough to go around. Natural color demand is already up between 30-50% across the industry since food companies began announcing their intentions to stop using artificial color, he says, and the earliest deadline – 2027 – is still years away. 'There is simply not enough supply to replace every single item in the market,' he says. 'You'll see the largest companies locking down colors soon, but there will not be enough until 2030.' There is also the worry that American consumers will reject the new colors altogether. While their counterparts in Europe, Canada and Japan have peacefully accepted the duller hues of natural dyes, Americans remain stubbornly attached to neon-bright candy and cereal. Case in point: in 2015, General Mills pledged to remove all artificial colors and flavorings from its products. The following year, it rolled out a natural version of Trix, the kid-friendly fruity breakfast cereal. But the muted Trix, colored by radishes, purple carrots and turmeric, was a flop. Customers missed the vibrant colors and complained that the new version didn't taste right. By 2017, 'classic Trix' had returned to grocery stores. On the other hand, when Kraft reformulated the powder for its macaroni and cheese and quietly began selling the all-natural version in December 2015, there was much less protest. As an Eater headline at the time put it: 'Kraft Changed Its Mac and Cheese and Nobody Noticed.' Perhaps it was the marketing strategy – Kraft did not bother to make a big announcement until after it had sold 50m boxes – or maybe it was because the natural dyes were just as orange as the original. (Alan recalls that her young nieces and nephews were slightly worried about the change but accepted the new mac and cheese without much fuss.) As the adage goes, we eat with our eyes. The appearance of food should not change our perceptions of how it tastes, but, as anyone who has ever bought produce knows, it definitely does. In nature, brighter colors indicate that foods are ripe and will taste good. This principle also applies to human-made food. As far back as the Middle Ages, according to Ai Hisano, a professor of business history at the University of Tokyo and author of Visualizing Taste: How Business Changed the Look of What You Eat, dairy farmers would mix carrot juice and annatto from achiote trees into their butter to make it a more appetizing yellow. When scientists discovered petroleum-based dyes in the mid-19th century, the dairy industry was one of the earliest adopters: the artificial dyes were cheaper, and they helped create uniform yellows for butter and cheese that appealed to shoppers. Other food producers quickly followed suit. Meat would be red! Sandwich bread would be white! Oranges – which sometimes stayed green, even when they were ripe – would be orange! By the early 20th century, the US government had started regulating food coloring to make sure it didn't kill anyone. This was also the beginning of the golden age of industrial food such as candy, breakfast cereal and, most notoriously, Jell-O, which came in colors never seen in nature. Food dye became vital for branding, Hisano writes. Even if brighter color didn't really affect flavor because the food was entirely manufactured, people perceived that it did, and that was what mattered. Would a beige Flamin' Hot Cheeto taste as spicy? 'I assume many consumers in the early 20th century were frightened by those bright-red foods,' Hisano told the Atlantic in 2017. 'But one reason consumers liked them is because they were excited about these colors they had never seen before.' And the knowledge that they were regulated by the FDA made them feel they were safe to eat. Because the identity of their products depends on color, the most resistance to Kennedy's initiative has come from America's candy manufacturers. A spokesman for the National Confectioners Association said that candy makers will not adopt natural dyes until federal regulations compel them to. Of all the biggest US food companies, only Mars, maker of M&Ms, Skittles and Starburst (incidentally, Trump's favorite candy), has not yet pledged to give up artificial dye, except for the already banned red 3. However, FDA commissioner Marty Makary told Fox News that he thinks Mars will come around sooner than later. Zissu, the food dye consultant, foresees 'an R&D sprint' to develop natural dyes before the 2027 deadline. And indeed, since May, the FDA has approved four new natural colors – three blues and one white – for a wide range of food, including juices, milk-based meal replacements, cereal, chips, sugar and ready-to-eat chicken products. But Zissu does not think that a transition to natural dyes means that the color of food will revert to a pre-industrial dullness. 'I believe we will always see the bright colors in candy and other items that consumers come to expect,' he says. 'There will just be a lot more research dedicated to getting those colors if artificial [dye] is banned.' It may also help if America's food manufacturers act en masse, as they appear to be doing: the change will be so overwhelming that, as Zissu puts it, 'neon synthetics will look as dated as trans fats.' Perhaps in a few years, we will look back at green mint chip ice-cream in wonder. (Some people already do: many ice-cream producers, including Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs, don't use green as the signifier for mint.) It seems Maha is poised to help shake America of its affair with artificial colors. But it celebrates this victory at the same time as the Trump administration guts public health infrastructure. The ice-cream industry's pledge came just 11 days after Congress passed a spending bill that will cut Medicaid spending, and therefore healthcare for millions of children, and slash Snap food assistance for US families. It came the same day that the Department of Health laid off thousands of employees. Under Trump, the government has also cut research grants to scientists studying, among other things, disease prevention and vaccines (of which Kennedy is a notorious skeptic). Underlying issues such as food and housing insecurity and child poverty that devastate children's wellbeing are likely to worsen. Alan thinks that if Kennedy is serious about improving the health of America's kids, there are much more pressing issues than food dye to work on. 'I just can't believe that someone would be given a chance to make such an impact,' she says, 'and this is what they choose to do.'


Reuters
21 minutes ago
- Reuters
US stock futures largely steady after record run for S&P 500, Nasdaq
July 25 (Reuters) - Wall Street futures were largely unchanged on Friday, as investors caught their breath after record closes for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq and looked for clarity on U.S. trade talks before the August 1 tariff deadline. At 06:50 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 68 points, or 0.15%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 8.25 points, or 0.13%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 10.5 points, or 0.04%. The blue-chip Dow fell 0.7% in Thursday's session, but remained close to its all-time high, last hit in December. All three major indexes were poised to cap the week on a high note, as fresh signs of progress emerged on deals between the United States and its trading partners including Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines, which helped propel markets to new highs. Hopes for an agreement with the European Union were building, while negotiations with South Korea gathered steam ahead of the fast-approaching August 1 deadline. Investors are hoping for a resolution by that date which could sidestep hefty U.S. import tariffs. The markets' record run was also aided by a wave of upbeat second-quarter earnings. Of the 152 companies in the S&P 500 that reported earnings as of Thursday, 80.3% reported above analyst expectations, according to data compiled by LSEG. However, there were a few setbacks this week. Heavyweights Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab and General Motors (GM.N), opens new tab stumbled and were on track for their steepest weekly declines in nearly two months. Tesla's slide followed CEO Elon Musk's warning of tougher quarters ahead as U.S. EV subsidies dwindle, while General Motors took a hit after absorbing a $1.1 billion blow from President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs in its second quarter earnings. Intel (INTC.O), opens new tab dropped 7.8% in premarket trading on Friday after the chipmaker forecast steeper third-quarter losses than Wall Street had estimated and announced plans to slash jobs. "Tariff headlines are driving market risk sentiment fuelling a risk-on mood this week. However, some volatility near the August 1st deadline remains possible," a group of analysts led by Adam Kurpiel at Societe Generale said. All eyes will be on the U.S. Federal Reserve next week when policymakers gather for a closely watched meeting. Wall Street is betting they will hit the pause button again on interest rates while sizing up tariff-fueled inflation. But the central bank isn't just facing economic headwinds — politics is also increasingly in the mix as Trump continues to ramp up his pressure campaign for lower rates after a rare visit to the Fed's headquarters on Thursday. A frequent critic of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Trump has openly floated the idea of replacing him with someone more dovish — a stance that analysts noted is nudging investors to start pricing in looser monetary policy. According to CME's FedWatch tool, traders now see a nearly 60% chance of a rate cut as soon as September. Among other stocks, Newmont (NEM.N), opens new tab added 2.1% after the gold miner surpassed Wall Street expectations for second-quarter profit. Health insurer Centene (CNC.N), opens new tab posted a surprise quarterly loss, sending its shares tumbling 10%. Paramount Global (PARA.O), opens new tab rose 1.3% after U.S. regulators approved its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.