Trump was in a trade summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today, as part of his four-day trip to Japan. In the post meeting joint press conference, Trump said he hoped to announce a trade deal with Japan very soon. He described trade imbalance with Japan as “unbelievable large”. He added “they are brilliant business people, brilliant negotiatiors and have put us in a tough spot but I think we will have a deal with Japan.” Earlier on before the meeting, Trump said: “Trade-wise, I think we’ll be announcing some things, probably in August, that will be very good for both countries… We’ll get the balance of trade, I think, straightened out rapidly.”
Abe said the two leaders had agreed to accelerate two-way tarde talks. Earlier today, the Japanese government announced new rules to limit foreign ownership of high-tech corporations, effective August 1. The government said that the rule aims at preventing leakage of technology deemed important for national security or damage to defense output and technological foundation.
The new rule is believed to be targeted at China, which was widely accused of the IP theft. However, there is no mention of specific countries or companies that will be affected by such foreign ownership restrictions. Thus, based on the principle of reciprocity, if Japanese steel is security risks to the US, American companies could be risks to Japan too. It’s all up to bilateral relationship and interpretations.
