Japan to buy $8 billion of U.S. ag, other goods under trade pact, White House says

Under the terms of a Japan-U.S. trade and investment pact, Japan will buy $8 billion of U.S. agri-food and other products and expand its quota for rice imports, the White House said Wednesday.

The president announced in a post to his social media site on Tuesday night that the U.S. and Japan had reached an agreement ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline for so-called reciprocal tariffs. The pact, he said, would leave 15% U.S. tariffs in place on Japanese exports. Meanwhile, Japan would increase market access for U.S. agricultural products, cars and trucks, and other exports, and make investments in the U.S. worth $550 billion.

Accordingly, Japan will increase import quotas for U.S. rice by 75%, according to a White House fact sheet published Wednesday, and commit to purchasing $8 billion of U.S.  goods, including corn, soybeans, fertilizer, bioethanol, and sustainable aviation fuel.

Japan maintains a tariff-rate quota system to control rice import volumes and control domestic prices while staying compliant with World Trade Organization rules. Under the quota limited quantities of foreign rice can enter the country duty-free. Japanese buyers import around 770,000 metric tons of rice under the quotas, with just under half typically coming from the U.S.

Rice imported outside of those tariff-rate quotas face steep duties of around $2.33 per kilogram, which has stymied U.S. exports, according to USA Rice.

Japan isn't saying what types of rice it will buy.

In comments to reporters earlier in the day, however, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stressed that he had made “absolutely no sacrifice” on agriculture.

“Import volumes will remain within the minimum access framework and we retain the discretion over how much and what type (of rice) to import from each country,” he said, according to Reuters.

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In addition to expanding market access for rice and boosting ag purchases, the pact will set up a new $550 billion investment vehicle that will invest at the direction of the U.S. “to rebuild and expand core American industries,” according to the fact sheet. The administration plans to direct this funding to energy projects, semiconductor manufacturing, critical minerals mining and processing, pharmaceutical production and shipbuilding.

The two countries are also exploring a new deal for U.S. liquefied natural gas exports.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., called the deal a “master class” in negotiation.

“I was with President Trump in the Oval tonight as he negotiated this historic deal!” he posted to X on Wednesday. “This deal with Japan will bring a $550 billion investment in America, hundreds of thousands of jobs, and a huge increase in trade between our two countries.”

Senior congressional Democrats were more skeptical, however, and jumped on the fact that a tariff rate of 15% on Japanese goods still marks a substantial increase from current levels.

“Like most of his ‘deals,’ it was big on promises, short on detail, and provided zero relief for American families and small businesses,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement to X. “The Trump tariff taxes keep going up, not down. That means one thing: higher costs for American families.”

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