The United States will make an announcement this week on Japan’s $550 billion investment in the U.S., Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.
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The United States will make an announcement this week on Japan’s $550 billion investment in the U.S., Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said, as a top Japanese trade envoy was reportedly planning to visit Washington to formalize the package.
“The Japanese agreement, which we’re going to announce later this week, that’s $550 billion at the hand of Donald Trump,” Lutnick told the Ingraham Angle show on Fox News on Monday night.
The Japanese funds could be used for the manufacturing of products such as semiconductors, antibiotics or rare earths in the U.S., Lutnick added.
Washington and Tokyo agreed in July to set a reduced 15% tariff on Japanese imports in exchange for a $550 billion package of U.S.-bound investment through government-backed loans and guarantees, but details of its contents remain obscure.
Trump has touted the package as “our money to invest, as we like”, while Japanese officials have stressed the investments will be determined by whether they will also benefit Japan.
SoftBank Group’s $2 billion investment in Intel announced last week was not part of the package at the moment, a Japanese government source has told Reuters.
Japanese broadcaster FNN reported on Monday that Tokyo’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa will visit the U.S. as soon as this week to discuss a document to formalize the agreement on the Japanese investment.
Akazawa, speaking at a regular Tuesday briefing, said his next U.S. trip was not decided and declined to comment on Lutnick’s remarks. Tokyo will keep pressing Washington to implement the deal to cut U.S. tariffs on Japanese goods soon, he added.
The U.S. has urged Japan to have a written agreement on the investment plans, but Japan prefers to keep the deal less legally-binding, the Nikkei business daily reported earlier on Tuesday.
The lack of a clear document on the trade agreement had created confusion in Tokyo about tariff rates until Lutnick and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified earlier this month that Japanese goods were exempt from overlapping levies and an earlier presidential order would be amended.
Lutnick and Bessent also promised, during Akazawa’s previous visit on August 7, that Trump would issue another order to lower tariffs on Japanese cars to 15% from 27.5%, but did not specify when.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said Tokyo did not seek a written trade agreement with Washington because it wanted a swift resolution and to ensure Trump’s tariffs on key Japanese exports such as autos were lowered quicly.
Ishiba’s support rate has surged in recent polls thanks in part to the trade deal, even after his ruling coalition lost its majority in an upper house election last month.
