Japan corporation agreed to 5.4% worker pay raise. That should accelerate to already rising inflation in Japan.
Japanese real wages dropped for a second straight month in February due to higher inflation, labour ministry data showed on Monday, amid broader worries in Japan about the impact of U.S. tariffs.
China will cut interest rates and increase the deficit.
“There is still room for further expansion of the fiscal deficit, special treasury bonds and special debts.” China’s exports are set to face repercussions in the short term, creating more downward pressure on the economy, it said.
Cambodia’s commerce ministry sent a letter to the Trump administration pledging to cut tariffs on its U.S. imports from 35% to 5% after Trump levied 49% tariffs on the nation—a major manufacturer of some American products, like shoes—if the U.S. opens discussions on lowering Trump’s tariffs.
Outstanding news! One of the non-monetary trade barriers the administration specifically cited is the difficulty of exporting cars to Japan. The barrier is that in Japan they use right hand drive cars, and we don’t manufacture those. It would be impossible for Japan to reconfigure their entire transportation system to accommodate this demand, so the tariffs can remain in place forever.
In addition to driving on the wrong side of the road, most Japanese aren’t Christian, they eat seaweed and raw fish, and they have the wrong skin color. We finally have an administration who has the courage to punish people who don’t look like us.
This is smart negotiating. In a negotiation, it is important to send mixed messages so the counter-party has no idea what your stance is, how they can accommodate it, or who the decision makers are.
I am “going for” a collapse of the private car industry, as the advantages of autonomous mutually communicating automobiles makes most private commuting vehicles obsolete.
Sure. But sometimes you can’t figure it out. Part of being a good investor - or performing well in any context that you have imperfect information - is recognizing that there’s some stuff that you don’t know, and making a rational decision that accepts that there’s important information that you lack.
The Trump Administration has concealed its goals and plans for the tariff regime, with officials claiming that the tariffs will both result in trade negotiations and fundamentally remake revenue sources and production sourcing decisions. Because the tariff levels were chosen thoughtlessly, firms can’t infer from the tariff levels what the Administration actually wants to achieve. Etc.
So JC’s are unavoidably working with a great deal of uncertainty. So their response is unlikely to be optimal - or even very good - compared to how they would behave if there was greater visibility into the Administration’s plans and intentions.
Japan’s Nikkei stock index plunged further on Monday, as US futures pointed to more losses on Wall Street over President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
In early trade in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was down 8.15%, adding to a 2.75% drop on Friday, while in Seoul, the Kospi was down 4.8%.
Singapore’s Straits Times Index plunged 7.37%. The Taiex, the weighted index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange, plunged 9.8% at the open as trading resumed after a long weekend.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 9.3%, while in mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 4.4%.
The above creates some pressure to resolve trade issue.
Assuming such an agreed masterplan exists, beyond taking ‚disruptive’ decisions loosely related to Project 2025 that may break things that took a long time to build but make TIG feel important in the spur of the moment.
Yes, but top administration officials said explicitly and in plain words the reason for the tariffs is barriers to car imports.
They also said in plain words they are not negotiating.
How exactly does Japan resolve this issue if 1) the US administration says straight up they won’t negotiate, 2) the problem is that US doesn’t manufacture right hand drive cars–which is the US says is a trade barrier?
I think a lot of this comes down to management style. For example:
Buffett has always hired the most competent people he can find. He doesn’t micromanage people. He sets broad goals for his managers and lets them figure out the details. He encourages calm, measured, logical, and well thought out actions. Steady as she goes. Even boring. Win-win scenarios. Great sense of humor.
On the other hand, Trump hires yes-men and he has always encouraged infighting among his managers. He flies by the seat of his pants. He encourages chaos so his managers have to come to him for solutions, which he “solves” using his gut instinct or by whoever last whispered in his ear. Lord of the Flies. Cruelty is encouraged. You have to lose so I can win. No sense of humor.
I’m more of a Buffett guy, especially when it comes to my financial security.
Israel has cancelled its remaining tariffs on imports from the United States, officials said on Tuesday, a day before the Trump administration hits global trading partners with reciprocal levies.
Yet the president still impose an Israel tariff. And he has not lifted the tariff. Does the president want more? We do have Bibi over a barrel; we provide the munitions for Israel to kill Palestinians. Perhaps Bibi will have to turn over Gaza to the USA.
For now, most world leaders are trying to bargain their way out of the sweeping new American tariffs. Just two of the 20 largest exporters to the United States have countered them with new tariffs of their own.
China and Canada.
Other economies — even large ones like Japan and South Korea — don’t have the same leverage, and many are offering concessions. Some are offering to lower their own tariff rates as they try to reach an agreement with the Trump administration.
But it’s unclear how much President Trump wants to negotiate
