US, Japan strike trade deal, Trump says

Donald Trump said under the deal Japanese exports to the US would be hit with 15 per cent tariff, and it would invest $550bn in America.

Donald Trump says the US has signed a trade deal with Japan. Picture: AFP

The US and Japan have struck a trade agreement, President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday evening, saying he would set his so-called reciprocal tariffs at 15 per cent for the country.

Under the deal, Japan would invest $550bn into the US, Trump said in his post on Truth Social, writing the US would receive “90 per cent of the Profits” from the investments, without providing further details.

Japan would also “open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products”, Trump posted.

Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in the Oval Office in February. Picture: AFP

The Japanese government offered no immediate confirmation of the deal.

The 15 per cent reciprocal tariff rate is lower than the 25 per cent tariff that Trump threatened recently in a letter to the Japanese government.

But it remains unclear if Japan will receive a break from separate national security tariffs, set at 25 per cent for automobiles and 50 per cent steel and aluminium.

Those tariffs, particularly the automotive levies, have been a sticking point in negotiations between the governments for months.

Trump provided no detail on those industry-specific tariffs in his post, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Wall Street Journal