Win-Win Deal: Abe Need and Re-Election Bid

win-win deal: U.S. President Donald Trump appeared extremely pleased with the agreement because positive feedback received from various domestic agricultural and livestock groups might help boost his re-election bid, according to The Japan Times. By contrast, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had to repeatedly emphasize that the agreement was a win-win deal benefiting Japan as well. At the Japan-U.S. summit held on Sept. 25, the mood of the two leaders looked apparently different. Why did Abe need to do that This was partly because the joint statement was vague about the treatment of Japan's export of cars and auto parts. Another reason was that the reaction from the Japanese public remains ambiguous and confused while concerns have been raised from domestic agricultural and livestock groups who fear losing market share to more competitive producers from abroad. ; The U.S. trade representative released a fact sheet on the trade agreement, which reveals that the agreement is apparently more beneficial to the U.S. than Japan. Not only were tariff cuts postponed, but also an exemption of the 25 percent additional tariffs implementable on national security grounds pursuant to Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 was not officially confirmed. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.