The president of the United States, Donald Trump, said Friday to Prime Minister Japanese, Shigeru Ihiba, that he wants to reduce the commercial deficit with Japan and advanced that this will be one of the central themes of his meeting in the White House, where they will also address issues Defense, North Korea and the purchase of Steel United States Steel.
“We want to work in the deficit. We have a deficit of about US $ 100,000 million with Japan, which does not surprise me, because they are very good negotiators, it must be said, but we want to address that and reduce it until they achieve total equality. For me, it has to be equitable”, He declared Trump before the press at the beginning of the meeting.
Tokyo does not want to be the target of commercial attacks such as those launched by the 78 -year -old Republican against Canada, Mexico, China and probably, very soon, the European Union, all of them countries or regions with which the first world power has commercial deficit.
The trade between the two countries leaves a favorable balance to Japan, although not US $ 100,000 million as Trump stated, but of just over 68,000 million in 2024. According to a study conducted for Congress, in 2023 the United States registered a deficit of US US $ 72,000 million in the trade of goods with Japan.
According to Trump, Customs tariffs are an option if this deficit is not balanced.
“I don’t think I will have any problem at all”To reach an agreement, he clarified, sitting next to Ihiba in the Oval Office.
Istiba response
To counteract the republican requests, Ishiba He stressed the importance of Japan for the US economy, being its main foreign investor and one of its largest shopping partners, and made it clear that their country is prepared to invest more.
In that sense, he announced that Toyota and Isuzu car companies, as well as the SoftBank Group conglomerate, plan new investments in the United States.
Ishiba He assured that both leaders are “determined to work side by side for peace in the world. ”
In this first summit between the two leaders, Shigeru Ihiba could propose to increase American natural gas imports, according to Japanese press.
This would reinforce the energy security of a poor Japan in resources, while allowing Trump, who sees each diplomatic exchange as a commercial negotiation, attributing an economic victory.
Security
Japan invests a lot in the United States. In fact, in 2023, it was the first source of foreign direct investment in US territory.
More recently, the Japanese giant of technological investment Softbank Group, whose boss Masayoshi Son is close to Trump, participated in an important investment project in artificial intelligence in the United States.
But not all Japanese investments are well received.
Democratic president Joe Biden blocked the friendly acquisition proposal of the Steel Steel Giant by Nippon Steel.
Trump, who also said during the campaign that Us Steel had to remain under American flag, met Thursday with the company’s head at the White House, according to an American official.
Commerce is not the only issue of the agenda. They will talk about the serious international security problems in the region, such as the Chinese threat to seize Taiwan someday or North Korea.
Japan, which hosts about 54,000 American soldiers, mainly in the Okinawa region, east of Taiwan, is concerned about the aggressive territorial ambitions of Beijing.
In addition, in recent months the tensions between Beijing and Tokyo have increased.
At the moment Trump has not adopted the hard position against China of his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, although he has engaged in a commercial dispute with the second world power.
Until Friday the US President has saved Japan in his frequent diatribes against the allies who, in his opinion, “They take advantage”From the United States.
However, nothing suggests that he is going to recreate with Shigeru ishiba the complicity he had with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, killed in 2022.
Both shared the passion for golf. Trump recently received the Winzo Abe’s widow for a dinner at his residence in Florida.
Personal relationship
As the Japanese Executive advanced, the objective of Ishiba is “Build a personal trust relationship”With Trump to reinforce Japan as a commercial partner and strategic ally in the Pacific, in the face of the protection of the policy of the policy of “United States first” that has marked the first weeks of the Republican in power.
One of the predecessors of Ishiba, the late former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2012-2020), resorted to golf games, high fighting, Wagyu hamburgers and multiple phone calls to cultivate their relationship with Trump during his first mandate (2017- 2021), which allowed him to avoid a commercial war with the United States.
Trump remembered Abe, killed in 2022 in Nara as she pronounced a campaign speech. “Shinzo was a great friend of mine. I felt fatal when it happened, I couldn’t have felt worse. It was a horrible event”He lamented.
Isthiba, on the other hand, took the beginning of the meeting to remember the murder attempt Trump suffered last July in full presidential campaign, when the then republican candidate was shot during a rally in Butler (Pennsylvania) and was injured in the Right ear.
The Japanese prime minister mentioned the iconic image after the attack of Trump bloody, with his fist and an American background flag, that the Republican later used in his campaign and that his followers printed on t -shirts, caps and plates.
Ishiba is the second international leader Trump receives at the White House since his investiture on January 20, after having met this week with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamín Netanyahu.
With information from AFP and EFE
Source: Gestion
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