Trump says trade deals were struck with Japan and the Philippines

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the US and Japan have struck a deal that will lower the hefty tariffs Trump had threatened to impose on goods from its Asian ally while extracting commitments for Japan to invest $550 billion in the US and open its markets to American goods.

The agreement - including a 15% tariff on all imported Japanese goods, down from a proposed 25% - is the most significant of the string of trade deals the White House has reached ahead of an approaching August 1 deadline for higher levies to kick in.

"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 said on his Truth Social platform.

Trump's announcement included few details, and he made no mention of easing tariffs on Japanese automobiles, which account for more than a quarter of all the country's exports to the United States and are subject to a 25% tariff. The deal lowers the auto tariff to 15%, according to industry and government officials briefed on the agreement.

Two-way trade between the two countries totalled nearly $230 billion in 2024, with Japan running a trade surplus of nearly $70 billion. Japan is the fifth-largest US trading partner in goods, US Census Bureau data show.

The announcement sent stocks in Japan higher, led by big gains in automakers as Honda, Toyota and Nissan all gained 8% or more, and US equity index futures gained ground. The yen strengthened against the dollar.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the elements of the deal announced by Trump, and details were scant. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for additional details.

Speaking early on Wednesday in Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he had received an initial report from his trade negotiator in Washington but declined to comment on the specifics of the negotiation.

Ishiba is under intense political pressure in Japan, where the ruling coalition was set back by losing control of the upper house in an election on Sunday.

Ishiba said he couldn't say how a trade deal would affect his decision on whether to step down from office until he saw the details.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a new trade deal with the Philippines that includes a 19% tariff rate for goods coming from the country and zero tariffs on US goods.

'MISSION COMPLETE'

Trump's announcement followed a meeting with Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, at the White House on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

"#Mission Complete," Akazawa wrote on X.

Kazutaka Maeda, an economist at Meiji Yasuda Research Institute, said that "with the 15% tariff rate, I expect the Japanese economy to avoid recession."

The deal was "a better outcome" for Japan than it potentially could have been, given Trump's earlier unilateral tariff threats, said Kristina Clifton, a senior economist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

"Steel, aluminium, and also cars are important exports for Japan, so it'll be interesting to see if there's any specific carve-outs for those," Clifton said.

Autos are a huge part of US-Japan trade, but it is almost all one way to the US from Japan, a fact that has long irked Trump. In 2024, the US imported more than $55 billion of vehicles and automotive parts, while just over $2 billion were sold into the Japanese market from the US.

Speaking later at the White House, Trump also expressed fresh optimism that Japan would form a joint venture with Washington to support a gas pipeline in Alaska long sought by his administration.

"We concluded the one deal ... and now we're going to conclude another one because they're forming a joint venture with us at, in Alaska, as you know, for the LNG," Trump told lawmakers at the White House. "They're all set to make that deal now."

Japanese officials had initially doubted the practicality of the project but warmed to it - and a range of other investments dear to Trump - as a potential incentive to resolve trade disputes with Washington.

Trump aides are feverishly working to close trade deals ahead of an August 1 deadline that Trump has repeatedly pushed back under pressure from markets and intense lobbying by industry. By that date, countries are set to face steep new tariffs beyond those Trump has already imposed since taking office in January.

While Trump has said that unilateral letters declaring what rate would be imposed are tantamount to a deal, his team has nonetheless raced to close agreements. Trump has announced framework agreements with Britain, Vietnam, Indonesia and paused a tit-for-tat tariff battle with China, though details are still to be worked out with all of those countries.

At the White House, Trump said negotiators from the European Union would be in Washington on Wednesday.

Trump's announcement on Tuesday was of a pattern with some previous agreements. He announced the deal on social media shortly after a meeting or a phone call with a foreign official, leaving many key details a mystery, and before the other country issued its proclamations.

US-Philippines trade talks yield modest tariff shift after Trump-Marcos meeting

US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday a new 19% tariff rate for goods from the Philippines after what he called a "beautiful visit" by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to the White House, and said US goods would pay zero tariffs.

The new tariff rate is just below the 20% threatened by Trump earlier this month, but still above the 17% rate set in April when Trump announced what he called reciprocal tariff rates for dozens of countries. It matches the 19% rate announced for Indonesia and bests Vietnam's slightly higher rate of 20%.

Trump posted the news on his Truth Social media platform after meeting with Marcos in the Oval Office, where he had earlier signalled a deal could be reached during the visit.

"It was a beautiful visit, and we concluded our Trade Deal, whereby The Philippines is going OPEN MARKET with the United States, and ZERO Tariffs. The Philippines will pay a 19% Tariff," Trump said, calling Marcos a "very good and tough negotiator."

Trump said the two Pacific allies, who will celebrate 80 years of diplomatic relations next year, would also work together militarily but gave no details.

Marcos, the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term, told reporters at the start of the meeting that the United States was his country's "strongest, closest, most reliable ally."

He had no comment after Trump's post on the new tariff rate.

Trump said the "very big numbers" in the trade agreement would only grow larger. The US had a deficit of nearly $5 billion with the Philippines last year on bilateral goods trade of $23.5 billion.

Trump has upended global trade flows with tariffs on nearly every trading partner, with almost all countries facing a 10% tariff that took effect in April and many facing steep additional tariffs from August 1.

Gregory Poling, a Southeast Asia expert at Washington's Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said it was too early to say much about the Philippines trade deal since no details had been released, as was the case with similar pacts with Indonesia and Vietnam.

"At the end of the day, I don't think the Philippine government is sweating the final number so long as it keeps Philippine-made goods competitive with those of its neighbours, which this does," Poling said.

The White House announced further details of a framework for a US-Indonesia trade agreement on Tuesday, saying negotiators were due to finalise the terms in coming weeks.

During the Oval Office event, Trump said he may visit China for a landmark trip "in the not-too-distant future" and noted the Philippines had distanced itself from Beijing after his election last November.

"The country was maybe tilting toward China, but we un-tilted it very, very quickly," Trump said.

Philippine officials had said Marcos planned to stress that Manila must become economically stronger if it is to serve as a truly robust US partner in the Indo-Pacific.

Protesters gathered near the White House as Marcos arrived, demanding the Philippine leader address pleas of Filipino Americans and migrant workers who have made multiple requests for support amid federal immigration raids.

Reuters