July 22 (UPI) — President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that his administration has reached a trade deal with Japan that will impose a 15% tariff rate on the large U.S.-trading partner, instead of the higher levy Trump threatened earlier.
The announcement came in a Truth Social post a week before an Aug. 1 deadline imposed by Trump on 14 countries to reach trade agreements with the United States in order to avoid tariffs of at least 25% on most imported goods.
Suggesting it was “the largest Deal ever made,” Trump claimed that Japan will invest $550 billion in the United States under the president’s direction that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. Additionally, Trump said Japan agreed to “open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products, and other things.”
“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.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not issued a statement on the deal as of Tuesday evening. While Japan avoided the higher tariffs with the deal, the new 15% levy is a steep increase from its previous single-digit rates on imports to the United States.
The prospects of 25% tariffs on imports to the United States rankled Japanese officials, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick previously warned that the Aug. 1 deadline was firm.
Trump announced earlier on Tuesday that the Philippines had reached a deal for 19% tariffs after a White House meeting with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. A week earlier, Trump announced a similar deal with Indonesia.
