The Trump administration has reached an important economic agreement with Japan. International trade and finance today is complicated, and agreements therefore can be difficult to sum up briefly. In this case, there is also significant background, somewhat different from our history with Europe, that bears in important ways on the specifics of the accord.

Japan has made a commitment to provide $550 billion in new funding to the United States in the form of investment, loans and loan guarantees. President Trump is justified in declaring that the agreement represents a major victory for his approach of negotiating concessions from other nations, especially major partners in Asia and Europe.

However, the agreement is also precisely in line with the long-term strategy of Japan to sidestep U.

See Full Page