Apr 1, 2025
Tariffs bringing Asia together?
This year has already seen a lot of crazy dynamics in terms of international relations, with the threat of American tariffs impacting many countries. ToneToEdo wrote a blog in mid-February about buying Canadian in Japan in response to the tariffs being levied upon her home country, and Japan is also being bullied with tariffs on auto manufacturing—which also happens to be one of the biggest employment fields here.
So what's a country to do?
Forming new alliances is a good start, it seems, and it looks like the U.S. tariff extravaganza is causing a lot of nations to do just that.
Image created via Canva
Japan, China, and South Korea held an economic dialogue this past weekend to discuss free trade agreements, which was the first time in five years that the three countries had convened on the topic.
I'm curious to see how this will develop over time, and how it will hopefully lead to lower prices on goods that are imported from those countries.
1 Comment
TonetoEdo
on Apr 1
One possibility is that, as US-imposed tarrifs begin to bite, Japan's manufacturing will look to other markets, and countries (and their industries/businesses) that are hit hard by the tariffs could be motivated to do the same. A hunch - tariff-targeted companies (as of today, every country according to POTUS) squeezed out of the US market adjust products and prices to appeal to other markets, including Japan. Have a look at Daiwa Institute of Research report about a "fisherman's benefit". https://www.dir.co.jp/english/research/report/analysis/20250312_024975.html The expression in Japanese is 漁夫の利 gyofu no ri, meaning that when two parties are fighting, a third party swoops in and takes the profits.