Wall Street opens higher on Wednesday after President Donald Trump finalised a trade agreement with Japan. In the early hours of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) gained 158.7 points, or 0.36%, reaching 44,661.12. The S&P 500 (.SPX) rose 17.3 points, or 0.27%, to 6,326.90, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) advanced 73.8 points, or 0.35%, to 20,966.47.
Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States has finalised a trade agreement with Japan, featuring a 15% American tariff on Japanese imports and a $550 billion investment pledge from Tokyo. The deal comes after Trump had previously threatened to impose a 25% tariff starting August 1 if negotiations fell through.
“We just completed a massive deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. He claimed the agreement includes a commitment from Japan to invest $550 billion into the U.S., with America receiving 90% of the profits,though he did not provide further details on the structure of this arrangement.
Trump also said the deal would generate “Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs” and added that Japan would now open its markets to US exports, including automobiles, trucks, rice, and other agricultural products. He added that Japan will pay reciprocal tariffs of 15% to the United States. He called the moment “a very exciting time for the United States of America, and especially for the fact that we will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan.”
However, the new US-Japan trade deal does not cover spending on defence, Tokyo’s tariffs envoy said Wednesday. “The deal does not include anything on defence spending,” Ryosei Akazawa told. President Donald Trump has called on the close US ally to hike military spending.