The Washington administration is ready to make agreements with other countries to reduce US tariffs on their goods in exchange for large investments from them in the United States. This was stated by US President Donald Trump to reporters on Thursday.
“Yes, of course, I would allow other countries to pay for tariff reduction“, he said, answering a question whether the US side was considering the possibility of such deals.
As an example, Trump cited the agreements between Washington and Tokyo, which he announced on July 22. Under their terms, Japan will invest $550 billion in the United States, and US import tariffs on its products will be 15%.
“What Japan did was buy a tariff cut“, the US leader added. “They gave us $550 billion, which lowered the tariffs a little“, he explained. “And it's not a loan or anything like that. I call it a signing bonus for the trade deal“, Trump stressed. The United States has agreed to reduce the tariff rate to 15%. According to him, without the aforementioned investments, tariffs on Japanese imports would have been 28%. Earlier, Trump and officials from his administration said that tariffs on goods from Japan would be set at 25%.
On July 22, the US president said that under the terms of the trade deal concluded between Washington and Tokyo, “Japan will invest $550 billion in the United States, which will receive 90% of the profits“. As Trump assured then, “the deal will ensure the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs“. According to the American leader “Japan will open its country to trade, including with cars and trucks, rice and some other agricultural products“.
According to American authorities, the trade turnover between the United States and Japan by the end of 2024 amounted to about $227.9 billion. Deliveries from the United States to Japan are estimated at $79.7 billion, from Japan to the United States - $148.2 billion.
On April 2, Trump announced the introduction of tariffs on goods from 185 countries and territories. The universal tariffs of 10% came into effect on April 5, the individual ones - on April 9. On the same day, the US president announced a 90-day suspension of some of the retaliatory tariffs due to trade consultations. A universal tariff of 10% is in effect during this period. On July 7, Trump signed an executive order moving the deadline for concluding trade agreements from July 9 to August 1.