Akazawa in Washington | This Week in Japanese Politics

Japan prepares for the unexpected in trade talks, stimulus plans on hold, and the CDP fights over tax cuts

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I was quoted in a story in the Financial Times on Japan’s “guinea pig” trade talks with the United States.

I was interviewed by Kyodo News, which was published in a number of newspapers (here, behind paywall).

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The rundown

Akazawa Ryōsei has arrived in Washington for trade talks, which the Japanese government learned Wednesday will include President Donald Trump himself. The Constitutional Democrats are fighting over tax cuts, while the Ishiba government sidestepped its own fight over tax cuts when it decided not to pursue a supplemental budget during the current parliamentary session. Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru, meanwhile, hosted Yoshino Tomoko, the head of labor federation RENGO, for the first one-on-one meeting between a prime minister and a labor boss since 2009, defended his government’s approach to talks with the United States in the Diet, and spoke with several world leaders about defending the global trading system. Plus: Bank of Japan Governor Ueda Kazuo spoke about the impact of the Trump Shock on his policy outlook in an interview with Sankei Shimbun. All of this and more in This Week in Japanese Politics.