Trump Says He’s Joining Tariff Talks With Japanese Officials

President Donald Trump said he will join his Treasury and Commerce secretaries on trade negotiations with Japanese officials on Wednesday, after his tariff announcements have prompted countries to scramble to hold talks with the White House.

The Republican president confirmed on Truth Social that he “will attend the meeting” with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at the White House with Japanese officials.

Trump suggested in the social media post that the deal would come at “the cost of military support” to Japan. The United States and Japan have had a decades-long military alliance, formed in the aftermath of World War II. Thousands of American troops are stationed on Japanese soil, namely at a major base in Okinawa Prefecture.

This month, Trump announced a 10 percent baseline tariff on nearly every country in the world but added higher, reciprocal tariffs on a number of significant trading partners, including Japan, Vietnam, the European Union, China, and others. Later, he announced a 90-day pause on the higher tariffs for every country except China, which was hit with a total rate of 145 percent.

Higher tariffs on imports from China are needed, Trump said in his announcement suspending the other duties, because the Chinese regime has taken advantage of the United States for decades on trade. The Chinese regime has responded by imposing higher tariffs on U.S. products.

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Before the 90-day pause announcement, Japan was hit with 24 duties on its exports to the United States. The 10 percent universal rate on Japanese imports and a 25 percent duty for Japanese cars, a major component of the country’s economy, remains intact.

Bessent has said there is a “first mover advantage,” given that Washington has said more than 75 countries have requested talks. However, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday that his country won’t rush to reach a deal and does not plan to make big concessions, although he’s said he will not impose countermeasures on U.S. tariffs.

In the meantime, the Trump administration is working with dozens of countries to negotiate new trade deals, White House officials have said this week.

“We’ve had more than 15 deals, pieces of paper, put on the table, proposals that are actively being considered. And as we’ve said consistently, more than 75 countries have reached out,” Leavitt told the news conference.

“We’ve got everybody in the trade team and even deputies of people in the trade team talking to just about everybody on Earth, and I think that we’ve got more than 10 deals where there’s very good, amazing offers made to the U.S.,” he said, adding that officials are mulling “whether those deals are good enough.”

For decades, Trump has been critical of the U.S. trade deficit with Japan and other countries, saying that American companies have been put at a disadvantage by trade practices and intentional efforts by other countries to maintain weak currencies. The recent tariff announcements by the White House also said the decision was a way to shore up national security and return manufacturing to the United States.