Trump announces trade deal with Japan, 15-percent tariff on Japanese imports
By Brett Rowland
The Center Square
President Donald Trump said this week he had reached a framework for a trade deal with Japan that will include a 15-percent tariff on imports from the island nation.
Trump outlined the broad terms of the deal in a post on Truth Social, as he has for other trade pacts. Trump said imports from Japan will face a 15% tariff, while U.S. exports to Japan will be tariff-free.
"We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits. This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs – There has never been anything like it."
Trump said Japan will open markets for U.S. automobiles, trucks, rice and other agricultural products.
"Japan will pay Reciprocal Tariffs to the United States of 15%. This is a very exciting time for the United States of America, and especially for the fact that we will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan," Trump wrote.
A tariff is a tax on imported goods paid by the person or company that imports the goods. The importer can absorb the cost of the tariffs or try to pass the cost on to consumers through higher prices.
It was the second framework deal Trump announced on Tuesday, having earlier announced a pact with the Philippines that included a 19% tariff on imports from the Philippines, while U.S. imports will be tariff-free.
The agreement with Japan is much larger because Japan and the U.S. do far more business.
U.S. trade goods with Japan totaled an estimated $227.9 billion in 2024. U.S. goods exports to Japan in 2024 were $79.7 billion. U.S. imports from Japan totaled $148.2 billion in 2024. The U.S. goods trade deficit with Japan was $68.5 billion in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
By comparison, U.S. trade with the Philippines totaled an estimated $23.5 billion in 2024.
Trump announced a similar deal with Indonesia last week. Trump said Indonesia would pay a 19% tariff on all goods exported to the U.S. while the U.S. would pay nothing for access to the Indonesian market. Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia with more than 280 million people.
Trump has been working to reorder global trade through tariffs to give U.S. companies an advantage at home.
Economists, businesses and some publicly traded companies have warned that tariffs could raise prices on a wide range of consumer products.
Trump has said he wants to use tariffs to restore manufacturing jobs lost to lower-wage countries in decades past, shift the tax burden away from U.S. families and pay down the national debt.
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