President Donald Trump announced at a reception with Republican members of Congress on Tuesday night: “I just signed the largest trade deal in history; I think maybe the largest deal in history with Japan.”
He added: “They had their top people here, and we worked on it long and hard. And it’s a great deal for everybody.”
Trump said the U.S. will charge a 15 percent tariff on Japanese exports to the U.S. in exchange for a $550 billion investment in the United States, and Japan, he said, will open its market to U.S.-made automobiles and rice, among other things.
There is likely no trade deal with Japan. There's no agreement to review. No text. Even in this article, the author notes that Japan hasn't even confirmed the existence of an agreement.
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) July 23, 2025
So why report that there's a trade deal if we know Trump lies and there's no agreement? https://t.co/IVBmnOHXMP
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), an outspoken critic of President Trump and his tariffs policy, responded with a link to a Politico article (‘Trump announces ‘massive’ trade agreement with Japan’) on social media and wrote: “There is likely no trade deal with Japan. There’s no agreement to review. No text. Even in this article, the author notes that Japan hasn’t even confirmed the existence of an agreement.”
Buried in paragraph 7: pic.twitter.com/X3qkE1jZTA
— Susan (@susanbordson) July 23, 2025
One close reader, communications consultant Susan Bordson, noted that “buried in paragraph 7” of the Politico article is the sentence: “A spokesperson for the Japanese Embassy did not immediately confirm the terms of the agreement outlined by Trump when reached for comment.”
Bordson criticized Politico by writing: “IF @politico staff cared about giving audiences the most accurate impressions possible, why would you feature Trump’s claim in your social post without relevant contextual info regarding its veracity? Highly relevant: Pres Trump’s “deals” have not ever been what he’s claimed.”
Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman wrote in reaction to the Japan deal reports that if the deal is as Trump claimed, then U.S. consumers will feel the impact.
A “15 percent tariff is still really, really high — much higher than the 1.6 percent tariff Japanese non-agricultural exports faced before Trump began his trade war,” Krugman wrote after the Trump announcement.
