When a Trade Deal Isn’t Good for the Global Economy
U.S. President Donald Trump and Japan’s Shinzo Abe in May.
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This week is going to bring yet more evidence of the ways in which Donald Trump is ripping up the global trading order. The irony is it will come via a politically expedient deal the U.S. president is expected to sign with Japan.
What Trump is likely to hail with his usual superlatives will in reality be a limited agreement. It will help assuage some of the pain suffered by U.S. farmers as a result of his China trade war by opening up the lucrative Japanese market to some, but not all, American agricultural exports. It will include commitments on digital trade and tariff reductions. But much of the trade between the two countries — including importantly that of autos and auto parts — is not expected to be covered.