Tag - trade

 
 

TRADE

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company's fabrication plant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on June 7, 2025
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 10, 2026
Taiwan says ‘impossible’ to move 40% chip capacity to U.S.
Taiwan is a powerhouse in producing chips — a critical component in the global economy — but the White House wants more of the technology made in America.
Vehicles bound for shipment at a port in Yokohama. Although exports to the United States dropped in 2025 for the first time in five years due chiefly to U.S. President Donald Trump's high tariff policy, those to other parts of Asia and Europe were robust.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 9, 2026
Japan’s 2025 current account surplus hits record
The country’s combined balance of goods and services trade extended its historic surplus growth to two years.
A farmer inspects his wheat field on the outskirts of Amritsar, India, on April 3, 2025.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 8, 2026
What’s at stake for Indian agriculture in Trump’s trade deal?
Indian farmers have expressed concern that New Delhi has made too many concessions to Washington.
The National Diet Building in Tokyo. Japan and Bangladesh have signed an economic partnership agreement for better market access for goods and services and development of related rules.
JAPAN
Feb 7, 2026
Japan and Bangladesh sign economic partnership deal
The EPA, the first such deal for Bangladesh, will take effect once domestic procedures are completed in both countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands as they attend a joint news conference at the White House in February last year.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 7, 2026
U.S. and India unveil interim trade framework, moving closer to broad pact
The interim framework includes lower tariffs, a reshaping of energy ties and deeper economic cooperation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to meet with then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Kyiv in March 2023. Four years into the war, Japan stands out as a leading supporter of Ukraine through economic and humanitarian aid.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 6, 2026
Four years of war and Ukraine still needs the world
Four years into the war, Japan stands out as a leading supporter of Ukraine through economic and humanitarian aid, testing its ability to sustain international economic diplomacy.
A cargo ship leaves the Port of Savannah in Savannah, Georgia, in June 2025.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2026
Shipping firms foresee smaller profits in 2026 as Red Sea tensions ease
Though not guaranteed, a restart of Red Sea shipping is more likely now successful passages have been made for the first time since Houthis began attacking vessels in 2023.
An Eneos oil refinery. Oil markets kicked off the year with a high level of volatility as geopolitical risks ran ahead of market glut concerns.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 4, 2026
Refiner Eneos to expand oil-trading portfolio outside of Japan
Eneos beefing up its trading presence is part of a broader push to create more value across business sectors as oil markets kicked off the year with a high level of volatility.
This view shows the Callao Express, a container ship from Germany, in the Panama Canal on the Pacific side, in Panama City on Jan. 30.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 4, 2026
China warns Panama of ‘heavy price’ over court ruling on ports
China has denounced a ruling by Panama’s top court to void CK Hutchison’s contract to operate two ports as “extremely absurd.”
The U.S. imposed sanctions on Sberbank, Russia's biggest bank, following Moscow's annexation of the Crimean Peninsula more than a decade ago and tightened them in response to Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
BUSINESS
Feb 3, 2026
Top consulting firms test boundaries with China workarounds
Faced with a fraught geopolitical environment, global consultancies are turning to riskier ways to do business in China.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House in August.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 3, 2026
Appeasing Trump only invites betrayal — as Europe’s far right just learned
The Europeans have misunderstood who they are dealing with. Trump does not want willing cooperation. He wants painfully extracted submission.
Japan's exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products and food rose 12.8% from the previous year to a record ¥1.7 trillion in 2025, though they fell short of the government’s ¥2 trillion target, the agriculture ministry said Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 3, 2026
Japan’s farm, food and fishery exports in 2025 set record for 13th year
The total failed to reach the government’s target of ¥2 trillion for 2025 even though exports to all top 10 destinations increased year on year.
U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House in Washington on Feb. 13, 2025.
WORLD / Politics
Feb 3, 2026
U.S. to cut tariffs on India to 18%, India agrees to end Russian oil purchases
Donald Trump announced the deal following a call with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, noting that India would now buy oil from the U.S. and potentially Venezuela.
Tractor trailers carrying shipping containers at the Port of Los Angeles in California on Aug. 28, 2025. The U.S., previously a leader in growth rates for container shipping, is now lagging much of the world.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 2, 2026
U.S. container growth vanishes with world trade flows ‘moving on’
Trump tariffs have led major economies to reduce their reliance on the American market.
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Yuyuan Gardens in Shanghai on Friday.
WORLD
Feb 2, 2026
Trump warns U.K. on ‘dangerous’ China moves after Starmer trip
London seeking a reset with Beijing, but the U.K. prime minister has been careful not to present it as an effort to hedge against the U.S. under Trump.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Saturday
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 1, 2026
Britain and Japan agree to deepen defense and security cooperation
Starmer arrived in Tokyo after a four-day visit in China, where he followed in the footsteps of other Western leaders looking to counter an increasingly volatile United States.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits the Forbidden City in Beijing on Thursday
WORLD / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 31, 2026
Visit by Britain’s Starmer shows drawbacks of ‘China pivot’ in countering Trump
The deals the British leader brings back to London show the limits of the balancing act that middle powers may try to play.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (center) with Antonio Costa, president of the European Council (left), and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Tuesday.
BUSINESS
Jan 31, 2026
EU trade deal gives Modi’s ‘Make in India’ ambitions a boost
Dubbed the “mother of all deals” by both sides, the free trade pact will open the EU market more widely to Indian exporters.
Japan Gas Association leader Takashi Uchida speaks during an interview in Tokyo's Minato Ward on Jan. 15.
BUSINESS
Jan 30, 2026
Japan Gas Association leader says it’s hard to give up Russian LNG
Securing alternative suppliers will not be easy since Russian LNG has an “economic advantage,” says Takashi Uchida.
Workers harvest calrose medium grain rice in California. Japan's rice imports from the United States accounted for about 78% of total rice imports in 2025.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 29, 2026
Japan’s private-sector rice imports jump by 95 times in 2025
Demand for foreign rice was strong despite high tariffs because of surging prices for domestically grown rice.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival