The US President's sudden tariff war is likely swirls of controversy within the US, but from the perspective of observers on the other side of the globe, his negotiating tactics appear to be exceptionally skillful.
After suddenly making outrageous demands that confused the entire world, he also cleverly imposed a 90-day suspension to allow time for consideration.
The choice of Japan, an ally and an Asian country, as the first partner in these outrageous tariff negotiations was also a success. When Japan was the world's second-largest country, the US and Japan were at each other's throats and engaged in fierce, tough negotiations under the Reagan, Bush (Sr.) administrations (Japan-US Structural Initiative), and Clinton administrations (numerical target setting). The intense negotiations between the two countries, which account for 30% of the global economy, attracted worldwide attention. Choosing this country first and then crushing it was a powerful example to other countries. The US president was also able to push ahead with a hard-line stance because Prime Minister Ishiba was a rival of former Prime Minister Abe and was disliked by the former prime minister; because Ishiba was part of a minority faction within the LDP and had a weak base within the party; and because the LDP had lost its majority in the House of Representatives election and was now a minority ruling party.
It was also a clever tactic to make automobiles and rice the main topics of discussion just before the House of Councillors election. In Japan, rice prices were soaring and there was a serious rice shortage, and the ``rice riots'' were being dealt with by a ``rice minister.'' It would be tantamount to suicide for the LDP to make promises that would disadvantage the automobile industry and agricultural cooperatives just before a national election. At that time, the message was, ``You don't want to buy American rice, do you? If you don't want to be attacked over rice, show us something else!'' It was also clever how the US president presented the American people with a list of tariff rates he was demanding from each country, portraying himself as a fighter fighting for the interests of the American people. And when, in the midst of tariff negotiations with Japan, he psychologically intimidated them by posting on social media listing the outrageous tariff rates, it was also extremely effective. Everything was brilliant.
Meanwhile, Japan was pathetic, with the ruling party suffering a major defeat in the House of Councillors election, losing its majority in both houses for the first time since the founding of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Prime Minister Ishiba being dragged down. Everything was completely destroyed and it ended in disaster.
As an old man, I can't help but think, "If we had had the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of the 1980s, this wouldn't have happened..."
The end
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/07/economy/trump-letters-tariffs
Trump announces new tariffs of up to 40% on a growing number of countries
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Updated 2:39 AM EDT, Tue July 8, 2025
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/22/business/japan-trade-agreement-us
Trump announces ‘massive’ trade agreement with Japan
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Updated 4:53 AM EDT, Wed July 23, 2025
