A Trade ‘Deal' and a Historic Election: What's Next for Japan?
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Kyodo News
an hour ago
- Kyodo News
Kyodo News Digest: Aug. 1, 2025
TOKYO - The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News. ---------- U.S., S. Korea reaffirm commitment to N. Korean denuclearization WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday reaffirmed with his South Korean counterpart Cho Hyun their countries' "resolute commitment" to the complete denuclearization of North Korea. During a meeting in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said the top diplomats also voiced "serious" concern about North Korea's deepening military cooperation with Russia, while welcoming a trade agreement between Washington and Seoul. ---------- Myanmar junta lifts 4.5-year emergency to pave way for election YANGON - Myanmar's ruling military on Thursday lifted a state of emergency it had maintained for four and a half years -- a step required to hold a general election it plans for December, amid the ongoing civil war. State-run television reported that the military government has "successfully resolved the matters it had when the state of emergency was announced on Feb. 1, 2021," citing the junta chief, who spoke at a meeting of the National Defense and Security Council -- Myanmar's top decision-making body, which includes the junta chief. ---------- Japan to invite nuclear disarmament confab chair for A-Bomb anniv. TOKYO - The Japanese government plans to invite Vietnamese Ambassador to the United Nations Do Hung Viet, who will chair next year's major nuclear disarmament conference, to attend the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima in early August, government sources said Thursday. It will be the first time a chair of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference, which is held every five years in principle, attends the memorial ceremony, the Foreign Ministry said, citing data since 2000. The move signals Japan's desire to use his presence to help build momentum toward disarmament. ---------- Yen weakens to 150 vs. dollar on receding early BOJ rate hike hope TOKYO - The yen briefly weakened to the 150 range against the U.S. dollar on Thursday, its lowest level since early April, on receding speculation over an early interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan. The Japanese currency was already facing selling pressure after the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan decided to keep their benchmark interest rates steady in their latest policy meetings, in a sign that the U.S.-Japan interest rate differential will remain wide. ---------- Japan cleared of all tsunami advisories after quake off Russia coast TOKYO - Japan on Thursday lifted its last remaining tsunami advisories issued after the previous day's magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, with only minimal damage seen from waves that reached the country's Pacific shores. The massive quake that struck at 8:24 a.m. Japan time on Wednesday prompted the Japan Meteorological Agency to send out tsunami warnings for coastal areas from Hokkaido in northern Japan to Wakayama Prefecture in the west, at one point affecting some 2 million people with evacuation orders. ---------- Toyota to resume all 11 halted domestic plants on Fri. NAGOYA - Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday it will resume operations at all 11 halted plants in Japan on Friday, after they were suspended following tsunami warnings and advisories triggered by a powerful earthquake off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. The carmaker suspended operations at the plants Thursday morning following the stoppage of eight of its domestic plants Wednesday as its supply chain was disrupted. ---------- TEPCO logs net loss in April-June on Fukushima plant cleanup TOKYO - Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. said Thursday it posted a net loss of 857.69 billion yen ($5.8 billion) for the April-June period, pressured by a special loss related to decommissioning work at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The second largest quarterly loss since the 2011 nuclear crisis is a sharp deterioration from a profit of 79.24 billion yen in the same period a year earlier. ---------- Macao makes 1st arrest under 2009 national security law HONG KONG - Macao police said Thursday they have arrested a 68-year-old man for colluding with foreign forces, making it the first-ever known case since the former Portuguese colony enacted its own national security law in 2009. The suspect is Au Kam-san, a leading pro-democracy activist and former opposition lawmaker. His arrest on Wednesday came ahead of a legislative election in the semiautonomous region of China scheduled for Sept. 14. ---------- Video: Demonstration flight of flying car conducted at Osaka Expo
The Mainichi
2 hours ago
- The Mainichi
Trump's country-specific tariffs to kick in after monthslong pause
WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- U.S. President Donald Trump is due to impose a broad set of country-specific higher tariffs on Friday after pausing them for nearly four months to negotiate individual deals with some key trading partners, including Japan, South Korea and the European Union. "Tomorrow, August 1, the reciprocal rates will be going into effect," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said at a press conference, confirming that the pause will not be extended further. Leavitt said countries that have not struck a trade agreement with the United States or have not received a letter with a new tariff rate will be informed by the deadline. Trump announced sweeping "Liberation Day" tariffs on April 2, targeting dozens of countries with which the United States runs trade deficits, before pausing them for 90 days to create time for negotiations. The Trump administration later extended the pause to Aug. 1 amid little progress in its talks with major trading partners. But it managed to clinch trade deals with some of them in the last couple weeks. Last week, the administration reached a trade deal with Japan under which Trump's so-called reciprocal tariff rate for the country was lowered to 15 percent from 25 percent in return for Tokyo committing to massive investment in the United States in the coming years. As Japan promised to buy more energy and farm products from the United States, the agreement also resulted in Japanese autos being subject to a 15 percent tariff, down from the whopping 27.5 percent rate that took effect in April. After Japan, the United States struck similar deals with the European Union and South Korea, with each securing tariff rates of 15 percent for the reciprocal and auto tariffs. Although there will be no further delay in implementing country-specific tariffs, the administration has decided to grant several exceptions. On Thursday, Trump said he will continue with the current 25 percent tariff on some Mexican goods imported to the United States for 90 days, avoiding the higher 30 percent tariff that he has threatened while the two countries negotiate during the period. With China, the United States has a different 90-day tariff truce that is set to expire Aug. 12. In May, the two countries suspended most of the hefty tariffs levied on each other's goods for that duration. Trump could extend the pause as early as this week following trade talks between senior U.S. and Chinese officials in Stockholm.
Japan Today
3 hours ago
- Japan Today
Japan to invite nuclear disarmament confab chair for A-Bomb anniv.
The Japanese government plans to invite Vietnamese Ambassador to the United Nations Do Hung Viet, who will chair next year's major nuclear disarmament conference, to attend the ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima in early August, government sources said Thursday. It will be the first time a chair of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference, which is held every five years in principle, attends the memorial ceremony, the Foreign Ministry said, citing data since 2000. The move signals Japan's desire to use his presence to help build momentum toward disarmament. The Japanese government also expects Robert Floyd, head of the body overseeing an international nuclear test-ban treaty, to attend the Aug. 6 ceremony in Hiroshima and the Aug. 9 ceremony in Nagasaki, the other city hit by an atomic bomb. Floyd has served as executive secretary of the preparatory commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization since 2021 and previously attended the ceremony in Hiroshima in 2023 at the invitation of the Japanese government led by then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The CTBT, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1996, prohibits countries from carrying out all types of nuclear explosive tests but has yet to enter into force as nuclear powers like the United States and China have not ratified it. The Japanese government sees the treaty as "a key norm that does not allow nuclear testing and plays an important role in nuclear nonproliferation," according to a senior Foreign Ministry official. A total of 178 countries, including Japan, have ratified the CTBT, but for it to take effect, it must be signed and ratified by 44 treaty-defined nuclear technology holder states. Nine of these, including China, North Korea and the United States, have yet to sign or ratify. While advocating for a world without nuclear weapons, Japan has not joined the U.N. nuclear ban treaty, as a complete prohibition conflicts with its policy of relying on U.S. nuclear deterrence for protection against potential threats. The Japanese government has called for maintaining and strengthening the NPT regime, which includes both nuclear and non-nuclear states. Amid deep divisions between nuclear-armed and non-nuclear states, the NPT review conference has failed to adopt a final document for two consecutive meetings. The most recent gathering in 2022 flopped due to opposition from Russia. The chair of next year's NPT review conference is expected to be invited to Japan for a four-day visit starting Monday, the sources said. © KYODO
