Latest news with #IshibaShigeru
International Business Times
6 hours ago
- Business
- International Business Times
Trump Announces Massive $550B Trade Deal with Japan Weeks after Threatening with 25% Tariffs
President Trump announced Tuesday that his administration had reached a major trade deal with Japan, two weeks after he warned the U.S. ally of possible 25% tariffs, as he termed it "the largest deal in history" during a celebration with Republican lawmakers at the White House. The celebrations came on a day when Trump's White House was rocked by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, with the president cheerfully announcing a win just hours after sharply criticizing former President Barack Obama. Trump, who had previously announced deals with Indonesia and the Philippines ahead of the August 1 deadline he set after temporarily halting his 'reciprocal' tariffs, said that more talks were underway. Major Deal Reached Donald Trump X "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, 79, wrote on Truth Social. "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%." Trump repeatedly gushed about its size of the deal, saying, "This is, they say, the biggest deal ever made." He also confirmed that more deals will be announced in the coming days. If agreements aren't reached after his administration promised '90 deals in 90 days,' it could trigger another market crash — a scenario Trump is keen to prevent as he continues to promote the booming markets. "We have Europe coming in tomorrow," said Trump, days after reports of the tariffs he could slap on the European Union. Big Win for Trump Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru X On July 7, Trump warned Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru that Japan would face a 25% tariff on exports to the U.S. if a trade deal wasn't finalized by August 1. According to the Census Bureau, the U.S. recorded a $69.4 billion trade deficit with Japan in 2024. Japan is the fifth-largest trading partner of the United States, after Mexico, Canada, China, and Germany. The deal was announced after Japan's lead tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, engaged in lengthy discussions with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and had a short meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, as reported by The Japan Times. During an Oval Office meeting on Tuesday, Trump also announced a new "tough" trade agreement with Philippine President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., which included the implementation of 19 percent reciprocal tariffs. Indonesia also signed a trade agreement with the Trump administration on Tuesday, locking in a 19 percent reciprocal tariff — just a week after the president warned of imposing a 32 percent tariff.
NHK
7 hours ago
- Politics
- NHK
Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba reiterates intention to stay in office
Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru has reiterated his intention to remain in office despite his ruling bloc's defeat in Sunday's Upper House election. Ishiba spoke to reporters on Wednesday after meeting with some of his predecessors at the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo. He said he was joined by LDP Secretary-General Moriyama Hiroshi in talks with former prime ministers Aso Taro, Suga Yoshihide and Kishida Fumio. He said they shared a strong sense of crisis and agreed that the party should never become divided. Ishiba denied media reports that he will resign. He said he cannot afford to create a political vacuum as he must respond quickly to challenges to his policies.
New York Post
15 hours ago
- Business
- New York Post
Trump announces sweeping Japan trade deal with $550B investment by Tokyo
President Trump announced Tuesday that his administration had wrapped up a massive trade agreement with Japan, two weeks after threatening the US ally with 25% tariffs '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, 79, wrote on Truth Social. '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%.' On July 7, Trump told Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru his country would pay a 25% duty on exports to the US if a deal wasn't wrapped by Aug. 1. Japan is the fifth-largest US trading partner among individual nations, trailing Mexico, Canada, China and Germany. This is a developing story. Check back for more information.
Mint
a day ago
- Politics
- Mint
Populism and polarisation come to Japan
The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Japan's long-time ruling party, suffered a historic setback at upper-house elections on Sunday. The party and its smaller coalition partner, Komeito, lost 19 seats. That will leave them governing without a majority in Japan's upper chamber for the first time since 2013. This poor showing is a nightmare for prime minister Ishiba Shigeru, who took office in October. His ruling coalition had already lost its majority in the lower house. Mr Ishiba called the result a 'harsh verdict' and said he intended to stay on. But calls for his resignation are mounting. The LDP remains the single largest party in both chambers of Japan's parliament. But the results on Sunday confirm that its long dominance of Japanese politics is under real threat. Its greatest challenge is not the established centre-left opposition, the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), which in the election maintained its seat tally in the upper house. Instead it is political upstarts that are luring away the government's voters. The Democratic Party for the People—a centrist outfit led by Tamaki Yuichiro, who has populist flair—more than doubled its seats, from nine to 22. That makes it the second-largest opposition bloc in the upper house, after the CDP. The Do It Yourself Party (Sanseito), a hard-right outfit with an anti-immigration message, also made a breakthrough. It jumped from two seats to 15 (Kamiya Sohei, its leader, is pictured). These newish parties appear to have energised voters: turnout increased to 59%, the highest level since 2012. The LDP was on the defensive long before polling stations opened. In recent years scandals have tainted the party's image. Mr Ishiba, the 68-year-old scion of a political family, has struggled to give his outfit new appeal among the young. Most of all, 'voters were dissatisfied with the LDP's response to inflation,' says Uchiyama Yu of the University of Tokyo. Prices have risen steadily since 2022. Wages have not been keeping up; in real terms they have fallen for five months straight. During the campaign parties of all stripes promised voters tax breaks and other giveaways. That unsettled investors, who were already worried about Japan's public debt (around 130% of GDP). In particular, opposition parties called for a cut in the consumption tax, currently 10%. In response Mr Ishiba, a fiscal hawk, promised a one-off cash handout of 20,000 yen ($136) per resident. As it turns out, that pledge was too meagre to win over many voters. And it irked many of the party's existing supporters, who saw it as shallow and reactive. Yet it was immigration, not the economy, that dominated the final days of electioneering. Because Japan's native-born population is declining, the country is becoming increasingly reliant on migrant workers to fill jobs. The number of foreign workers reached a record 2.3m last year. That is still only around 3% of the workforce (compared with around 20% in Britain and Germany) but is three times higher than a decade ago. Sanseito, the hard-right party, accused the government of importing cheap labour at the behest of big business. It claimed this was holding down the wages of locals, and caused other problems. Sanseito's 'Japanese First' slogan struck a chord. At a recent street rally in Saitama, an area near Tokyo, a party speaker compared the movement to MAGA in America and the Alternative for Germany, a hard-right party. Koeda Yoshiyuki, a 51-year-old supporter, called Sanseito 'the only party that can truly tackle the big problems Japan faces today'. Sanseito relied on social media, especially YouTube, to reach voters disheartened with politics-as-usual. Legacy outlets tried to debunk its dubious claims, including that foreigners are pushing up crime and have been buying up big swathes of land. Many voters apparently did not listen. What will the LDP do now? Its policymaking is about to become even more constrained: lacking a majority in either chamber, it will need to negotiate with other parties to pass legislation. It could try to expand its coalition by bringing in one more of them. But all the likeliest candidates have so far rejected this idea. Mr Ishiba's days as prime minister are surely numbered, even if he is insisting he will stay. The LDP could soon seek to install a fresher face, such as Koizumi Shinjiro, the charismatic 44-year-old son of a former prime minister, who as agriculture minister has been handling the government's response to a rice-price shock. Alternatively, the party could move to the right in hopes of fending off the challenge from Sanseito: Takaichi Sanae, a hardline nationalist who competed against Mr Ishiba in last year's LDP leadership race, has already hinted she would consider another tilt at the top job. For years Japan had seemed to escape the populism and polarisation that has upturned politics in many other rich democracies. That is clearly no longer the case.
a day ago
- Politics
Ishiba's LDP Coalition Loses Majority in Japan's Upper House Election: Smaller Parties Make Gains in Fragmented Landscape
Japan Data In the July 20 election for half the seats in the House of Councillors, the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Kōmeitō fell short of the 50 seats required to maintain a majority in the chamber; political turmoil is now deepening in Japan. There were 125 seats at stake in Japan's 2025 House of Councillors election on July 20, amounting to just over half of the total of 248. Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru's coalition of his Liberal Democratic Party and junior partner Kōmeitō fell short of the 50-seat target required for it to maintain a majority in the upper house, with the LDP winning 39 seats and Kōmeitō 8. Having lost its majority in the House of Representatives last autumn, the coalition now has no majority in either house, despite remaining the nominal government. This is the first time for the LDP to be in such a situation since the party was founded in 1955. Ishiba indicated his intention to continue as leader, citing the heavy responsibility of being the leading party, but will face increased obstacles in any political action. The rise of the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseitō was a leading factor in the loss of the coalition majority. The DPFP previously had 4 seats among those contested, but won 17. Meanwhile, Sanseitō, which previously had just 1 of the contested seats, secured 14 with a populist 'Japan First' campaign, and now has enough lawmakers to propose legislation. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, meanwhile, was unable to improve its standing, finishing with 22 seats, or the same total as before the election. 2025 House of Councillors Election Results Total seats Single-seat districts Proportional representation Ruling coalition Liberal Democratic Party 39 27 12 Kōmeitō 8 4 4 Opposition parties Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan 22 15 7 Nippon Ishin no Kai 7 3 4 Democratic Party for the People 17 10 7 Japanese Communist Party 3 1 2 Reiwa Shinsengumi 3 0 3 Sanseitō 14 7 7 Conservative Party of Japan 2 0 2 Social Democratic Party 1 0 1 Team Mirai 1 0 1 Independents 8 8 ー Total 125 75 50 Note: Total includes one vacant Tokyo seat not officially up for election this year. Voter turnout was 58.51%, increasing by more than 6 percentage points from the 52.05% in 2022. A record total of 26.2 million people voted early, which is equivalent to 25.12% of all registered voters, and is the highest ever for elections in both houses. (Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru exits after talking to reporters while House of Councillors results are announced at LDP headquarters in Tokyo in the early hours of July 21, 2025. © Kyōdō.)
