Japan offers US investment 'gift' in exchange for tariff relief
Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae visited the United States on March 19 and reached a $73 billion investment project with the US side in exchange for US tariff relief. According to a statement published on the White House website, the two sides reached a $40 billion nuclear reactor project to build small modular reactors in Tennessee and Alabama. In addition, the two sides will invest $33 billion in natural gas power generation facilities in Pennsylvania and Texas. The newly announced investment projects are part of Japan's $550 billion investment plan to obtain US tariff relief. In July last year, Trump said the United States and Japan had reached a trade agreement. Under the agreement, Japan will invest $550 billion in the United States, and the United States will get 90% of the investment profits. Japan will open its markets to the United States for cars, trucks, rice and certain other agricultural products and commodities. The United States will impose a 15% tariff on Japanese products exported to the United States. In February, the US Supreme Court ruled that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act did not authorize the president to impose large-scale tariffs. This means that the Trump administration's tariff policy has suffered a major setback. But the Trump administration has since continued to use alternative tariff measures to pressure many countries, including Japan. According to Japanese media reports, after the Trump administration's "reciprocal tariffs" were ruled invalid by the US Supreme Court, the Japanese government still did not want to anger the United States and planned to continue to implement the $550 billion investment agreement.