Tokyo says it is standing firm on trade after Trump announced a 25% tariff on all Japanese imports, with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowing to do what was best for his country rather than yield to pressure from Washington.
According to Toshimitsu Shigemura, a political science professor at Waseda University, Ishiba has been slow to realise that Japan’s “special relationship” with the US is no longer intact.
scmp.com/week-asia/economics/a…
#usa #china #geopolitics
Japan refuses to yield on Trump’s tariff threat: ‘We will not be taken advantage of’
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba called it ‘a battle for our national interests’ as analysts warn of economic and security fallout.Julian Ryall (South China Morning Post)
firstprimate
in reply to Yogthos • • •Yogthos
in reply to firstprimate • • •ItsDoctorNotMrs
in reply to Yogthos • • •@firstprimate
Maybe it would be good to see the results of these negotiations with the US before jumping to that conclusion.
Yogthos
in reply to ItsDoctorNotMrs • • •@northernlights @firstprimate we're already seeing the results with Carney having walked back. It will never cease to amaze me how people keep hoping against all evidence to the contrary that Carney is not in fact a spineless imbecile.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Trump bullied Canada over ‘digital taxes’ – and Ottawa submitted
Joseph Stiglitz (The Guardian)ItsDoctorNotMrs
in reply to Yogthos • • •@firstprimate
Maybe you're right. I'm going to wait to see the outcomes before spilling any bile on Carney, though.
Yogthos
in reply to ItsDoctorNotMrs • • •ItsDoctorNotMrs
in reply to Yogthos • • •@firstprimate
The DST rescension is part of a negotiation, as is the threat of 35% tariffs.
As I said, I'm going to wait and see. I suspect a concluded trade deal will be worth more than the DST would have brought in, however satisfying it would be to tax the social media corps.
Yogthos
in reply to ItsDoctorNotMrs • • •@northernlights @firstprimate so far all Carney has done was cave to the US, and he will continue to do so because he has failed to provide any actual plan of how to replace the trade with US.
He has no negotiation position because Canada is far more dependent on US for trade than the other way around.
To credibly push back and defend Canadian interests would require having a plan to diversify trade. An obvious move would be to start dialogue with China.
ItsDoctorNotMrs
in reply to Yogthos • • •@firstprimate
No, Carney has also brought Canada closer to the EU through the defence industry, hosted the G7, participated in the annual NATO meeting, launched a reform of the civil service, etc, within a few months of the election.
The man likely has a plan for moving Canada forward in a good way.
Really, most of what I see in your posts is venom from someone who is biased against Carney. Are you perhaps a Conservative?
Yogthos
in reply to ItsDoctorNotMrs • • •@northernlights @firstprimate the Not sure why you think bringing Canada closer to EU is a genius move given that EU is imploding economically as we speak.
The plan this carnie has is to gut social services to fund the military, while dimwits like you carry water for him.
Meanwhile, if you looked through my posts and you think I'm a conservative then you're dumber than a bag of bricks. I guess that's a prerequisite for being a neolib though.
jacobin.com/2025/07/mark-carne…
Mark Carney Is Hacking Away at Canada’s Public Sector
jacobin.com