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Donald Trump said he would plan to impose prices on Japanese exports if the American trade deficit with the Asian country was not eliminated and is committed to revealing the “reciprocal” prices on other nations next week .
Speaking at the White House alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, the president warned that prices were an option to combat the trade deficit with Japan, the most important American ally in Indo-Pacific.
Asset said Washington and Tokyo would work together to reduce the trade deficit, saying “they also want equity”.
Questioned by journalists when he was sitting next to Ishiba in the oval office if he was looking for other concessions in Tokyo, Trump said: “I think it will be very easy for Japan. We have a fantastic relationship. I don’t think we will have no problem.
In 2024, the deficit of goods with Japan was $ 68 billion, compared to $ 55 billion in 2020 before the end of its first mandate.
The comments on the new prices have marked another climbing in Trump’s rhetoric, and brings the United States closer to the edge of a multi-fronst trade war With some of its closest business partners and its security allies.
Trump also said that he had also not changed his mind on the proposed acquisition of $ 15 billion in Japanese Steel from Nippon Steel. Companies are continuing the US government after the Biden administration blocked the agreement in January.
The American president also said that he would unveil the “reciprocal prices” on the nameless countries next week, in an index on the universal levies that he promised to slap imports in the United States.
“I will announce that next week, reciprocal trade, so that we are treated uniformly with other countries,” Trump told journalists at the Oval Office on Friday. During the presidential campaign last year, he repeatedly warned that he would impose a universal rate on imports in the United States.
Earlier this week Trump Suspended until March 1 Its plan to impose steep prices in Mexico and Canada, the two largest trade partners in the United States, but has proceeded to 10% of imports from China. Beijing responded with reprisal prices that will take effect this weekend.
