President Donald Trump touted a new trade deal with Japan on Tuesday evening, announcing the agreement on his social media platform and during White House events.
"We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made," Trump boasted on Truth Social. "Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits."
Trump claimed the deal would create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and that there "has never been anything like it."
"Perhaps most importantly, Japan will open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products, and other things," he added.
The president noted that Japan will pay reciprocal tariffs of 15% to the United States.
"This is a very exciting time for the United States of America, and especially for the fact that we will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan," he concluded.
Japanese officials have not publicly commented on the terms laid out by Trump. Details about its implementation and specifics weren't immediately known.
Critics roundly mocked the new deal.
Joey Politano, author of the economics newsletter Apricitas Economics, wrote on X, "Trump announces 15% tariffs on Japan. Another trade 'deal' that’s even worse than what we had before he took office."
The popular Wu Tang is for the Children account chimed in on X, "In another effort to distract from Epstein….Trump just posted that he made a deal with Japan and they 'will invest, at his direction, $550B into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits'…..yeah ok grandpa."
Spencer Hakimian, Founder of Tolou Capital Management, wrote on X, *TRUMP TO IMPOSE 15% TARIFF ON GOODS FROM JAPAN Japan doesn’t even charge a 1% tariff on us. This is a complete joke.
Software developer Lucas Baker added, "One bad policy after another from this administration. Future historians will note this as the era in which the age of American hegemony made a rapid and irreversible decline."
Clara Jeffery, editor-incChief of Mother Jones/Center for Investigative Reporting, wrote on Bluesky, "Prediction: Japanese consumers don't want our cars, trucks, or rice."
Jeffery added in a follow-up post a gif of a confused John Travolta,which comes from a scene in the 1994 film "Pulp Fiction" directed by Quentin Tarantino. She captioned the post,: "'where are the Japanese buyers for our s---ty gas cars?'"
She noted that China has electric vehicles that "eliminate range anxiety, cost like $11,000, are cool AF, and literally dance."
"Japanese consumers are not going to pop for a Buick. This is why the Big Three (and labor, too) fighting for status quo rather than future is so short-sighted."
