Japan, America, Offer Contradictory Accounts of Terms in Breakthrough Trade Agreement

The terms of a breakthrough trade agreement between America and Japan are being called into question, with senior officials in the two nations offering contradictory accounts of who will profit from a huge new Japanese investment in the United States.Under the terms of the agreement announced this week, Japan will invest a whopping $550 billion in the United States, an amount equal to almost 14 percent of the Asian nation’s GDP in 2024. In exchange, Japanese goods entering America will be faced with a tariff of 15 percent, down from a threatened 25 percent.But the two nations offer very different explanations about how the profits from that investment will be allocated under the agreement, which is seen as a potential model for trade deals being negotiated with South Korea, the European Union and others.American officials have explained that the investments will be directed by the Trump administration into semiconductors, shipbuilding, critical minerals, and other sectors as it sees fit.“The Japanese will finance the project,” Treasury Secretary Howard Luttnick said. “We will give it to an operator and the profits will be split 90 percent to the taxpayers and 10 percent to the Japanese,” he said, according to the Financial Times.President Trump reiterated that account a day later, saying, “They gave us $550bn upfront, 100 percent. We get 90 percent, they get 10 per cent,” the FT reported.The agreement is being described differently in Tokyo, where officials point out that the investment deal has not been put into writing. Reports say it was negotiated verbally in little more than an hour on Tuesday between President Trump and Japan’s chief negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa.A slideshow released on Friday by Japan’s cabinet office says profits from the investment will be distributed “based on the degree of contribution and risk taken by each party.”Neither side has yet explained how the contradictory accounts can be reconciled. But the terms are important because the deal is being closely examined by other major American trading partners.“The US-Japan trade deal also provides a model for US deals with the EU and South Korea. Like Japan, these entities are major US trading partners with significant trade surpluses,” says an analysis published Friday by the Hudson Institute.“Given the number of states hoping to lock down deals before the White House’s August 1 deadline, the US could benefit from having the EU and South Korea follow the Japanese template.”Other terms of the trade agreement call for Japan to ease restrictions on the import of trucks, rice, and other agricultural goods from America. Japan’s Nikkei index rose by 3.5 percent a day after the deal was announced, with automakers Nissan and Toyota leading the surge.

Japan, America, Offer Contradictory Accounts of Terms in Breakthrough Trade Agreement

Japan, America, Offer Contradictory Accounts of Terms in Breakthrough Trade Agreement

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