Trump says Japan will invest $550 billion in US at his direction. It may not be a sure thing

By Josh Boak and Mari Yamaguchi Associated Press WASHINGTON President Donald Trump is bragging that Japan has given him as part of a new transaction framework billion to invest in the United States It s an astonishing figure but still subject to negotiation and perhaps not the sure thing he s portraying Japan is putting up billion in order to lower their tariffs a little bit Trump explained Thursday They put up as you could call it seed money Let s call it seed money Related Articles Letters We must learn to co-exist with mountain lions Letters Voters have the power to lift nation s veil of fear Judge blocks Trump s birthright citizenship restrictions in third ruling since high court decision Epstein ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell finishes interviews with Justice Department administrators In Epstein furor Trump struggles to shake off a conflict his allies once stoked He announced of any profits from the money invested would go to the U S even if Japan had put up the funds It s not a loan or anything it s a signing bonus the Republican president commented on the bargain framework that lowered his threatened tariff from to including on autos A White House official commented the terms are being negotiated and nothing has been formalized in writing The official who insisted on anonymity to detail the terms of the talks suggested the goal was for the billion fund to make investments at Trump s direction The sum is essential It would represent more than of Japan s entire gross domestic product The Japan External Business Organization estimates that direct venture into the U S financial sector topped billion in It is unclear the degree to which the billion could represent new venture or flow into existing venture plans What the exchange framework revealed Tuesday has achieved is a major talking point for the Trump administration The president has claimed to have brought trillions of dollars in new stake into the U S though the impact of those commitments have yet to appear in the economic material for jobs construction spending or manufacturing output The framework also enabled Trump to say other countries are agreeing to have their goods taxed even if chosen of the cost of those taxes are ultimately passed along to U S consumers On the billion Japan s Cabinet Office disclosed it involves the credit facility of state-affiliated financial institutions such as Japan Bank for International Cooperation Further details would be decided based on the progress of the capital deals Japanese business negotiator Ryosei Akazawa upon returning to Japan did not discuss the terms of the billion funding Akazawa disclosed he believes a written joint declaration is necessary at least on working levels to avoid differences He is not thinking about a legally binding pact pact The U S apparently issued its version of the deal while Japanese functionaries were on their return flight home If we find differences of understanding we may have to point them out and say that s not what we discussed Akazawa declared The U S administration explained the fund would be invested in critical minerals pharmaceuticals computer chips and shipbuilding among other industries It has reported Japan will also buy airplanes from Boeing and rice from U S farmers as part of the framework which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained would be evaluated every three months And if the president is unhappy then they will boomerang back to the tariff rates both on cars and the rest of their products And I can tell you that I think at especially in cars the Japanese financial market doesn t work Bessent stated Fox News The Ingraham Angle Akazawa denied that Bessent s quarterly review was part of the negotiations In my past eight trips to the United States during which I held talks with the president and the ministers Akazawa declared I have no recollection of discussing how we ensure the implementation of the latest agreement between Japan and the United States He stated it would cause major disruptions to the commercial sector and administrative processes if the rates first rise to as scheduled on Aug and then drop to We definitely want to avoid that and I believe that is the understanding shared by the U S side he commented On buying U S rice Japanese agents have declared they have no plans to raise the current -ton minimum access cap to import more from America Agricultural Minister Shinjiro Koizumi explained Japan will decide whether to increase U S rice imports and that Japan is not committed to a fixed quota Trump s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick has suggested that the Japanese agreement is putting pressure on other countries such as South Korea to strike deals with the U S Trump who is traveling in Scotland plans to meet on Sundayv with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss transaction Whatever Donald Trump wants to build the Japanese will finance it for him Lutnick reported Thursday on CNBC Pretty amazing Yamaguchi communicated from Tokyo