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July 04, 2026
 

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TRADE

Flags flutter during the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting, in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 20, 2026
Global leaders gather in Switzerland to ponder the future of a messy world
Among the range of likely topics at the World Economic Forum lies one central question: What will U.S. President Donald Trump do next?
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a news conference in Beijing on Friday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 20, 2026
China isn’t the answer for Canada’s trade troubles, Taiwan envoy says
The Canadian and Chinese leaders reached an agreement last week to lower trade barriers and rebuild ties.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Jan. 14
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 20, 2026
Trump’s trade negotiator says response to tariff court loss would be immediate
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the president could turn to different legal authorities to impose similar tariffs worldwide.
Shipping containers at the Yantian International Container Terminals, in Shenzhen, China
BUSINESS
Jan 20, 2026
Xi’s export machine helped by Trump’s moves to strongarm allies
As Xi Jinping battles deflation and shrinking investment, he’s betting that China can sell more goods to the world to drive growth.
Danish soldiers disembark at the port in Nuuk, Greenland, on Sunday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 19, 2026
EU eyes tariffs on $108 billion of U.S. goods over new Trump threat
The EU is also weighing additional countermeasures beyond the tariffs but will first try to find a diplomatic solution, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Farm minister Norikazu Suzuki (left) visits a rice ball shop in Paris on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 19, 2026
Japan’s farm minister raises concerns over EU packaging rules
The Japanese government has requested the EU exempt some of its export products, such as tea leaves and mayonnaise, from the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.
U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen announce a U.S.-EU trade deal after a meeting at Trump Turnberry golf club in Turnberry, Scotland, in July.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 19, 2026
Trump’s Greenland tariffs have blown up the EU ‘appeasement’ plan
At some point, said one senior EU diplomat, Europe may have to decide that a relationship with the U.S. is lost for now and the costs outweigh the benefits.
People take part in a demonstration that gathered almost a third of the population of Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, to protest Saturday against the U.S. president’s plans to take the territory
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 19, 2026
Markets jolted, euro softens as Trump vows tariffs on Europe over Greenland
The U.S. president said he would impose an additional 10% import tariff from Feb. 1 on goods from several countries.
A solar farm in Nakai, Kanagawa Prefecture, in March 2016. Japan gets about a tenth of its electricity from solar panels despite having nearly no domestic production of photovoltaics (PVs).
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Jan 18, 2026
Beijing row highlights need for Japan to reduce cleantech dependence on China
To reach net zero, Japan will need to rapidly expand renewables, but its solar manufacturing capacity is virtually non-existent despite it being a pioneer of the technology.
People take part in a demonstration that gathered almost a third of the population of Nuuk, Greenland, to protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to take the Danish territory, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2026
Trump’s Greenland pressure blitz reopens tariff wounds in Europe
U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of a 10% tariff, rising to 25% in June, on eight European nations was a brazen escalation and insult to close U.S. allies.
China’s export restrictions on dual-use items to Japan illustrate how trade controls can be used as a coercive tool, putting dependent countries at risk.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 18, 2026
China proves skeptics right about export controls
The argument of the developing world, that trade controls are tools to suppress economic opportunity, has been legitimated in recent months.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in Turnberry, Scotland, on July 27.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 18, 2026
EU set to halt U.S. trade deal over Trump’s new tariff threat
The trade agreement, struck last summer, has already been partially implemented but still needs a nod from parliament.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jan 18, 2026
Carney’s China embrace widens gap with U.S. in Trump’s tariff era
Canada has long stuck closely to the U.S. on China policy. Along with historic trade ties, that alignment is now cracking.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (left), Paraguayan President Santiago Pena (center) and Argentina's leader, Javier Milei, pose for the official picture at the end of the signing ceremony of a trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur, at the Gran Teatro Jose Asuncion Flores of Paraguay's Central Bank in Asuncion on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 18, 2026
EU and Mercosur bloc ink major trade deal, rejecting ‘tariffs’ and ‘isolation’
The deal between the EU and South American nations creates one of the world’s largest free trade areas after 25 years of tricky negotiations.
People take part in a demonstration that gathered almost a third of the population of Nuuk, Greenland, to protest against the U.S. President Donald Trump's plans to take the Danish territory, on Saturday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 18, 2026
Trump vows tariffs on eight European nations over Greenland
Trump said additional 10% import tariffs would take effect on Feb. 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Great Britain.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney meets with President of China Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Jan 16, 2026
Carney meets Xi after touting importance of ties with China amid ‘new world order’
The Canadian prime minister’s overture comes in the wake of the U.S. president’s trade war that last year put tariffs on goods from American allies and adversaries alike.
Agriculture minister Norikazu Suzuki (left) exchanges views with a French man who owns an onigiri shop (right) on Thursday in Paris.
JAPAN
Jan 16, 2026
Farm minister Suzuki visits Paris to promote rice exports
Suzuki emphasized that securing sales channels overseas will make it easier for Japanese farmers to produce rice stably.
A man rides a scooter past shipping containers at the Port of Keelung on Friday. The United States said on Thursday that it has signed a deal with Taiwan to reduce tariffs on goods from the democratic island, while increasing Taiwanese semiconductor and tech companies' investments in America.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2026
U.S. and Taiwan clinch deal to cut tariffs and boost chip investment
Duties on Taiwanese shipments would fall to 15%, and Taiwan’s tech industry would increase financing for American operations by $500 billion.
Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China. Ending U.S. reliance on the minerals has been a top priority for Washington.
BUSINESS
Jan 16, 2026
U.S. asks allies to step up measures on Chinese minerals
Ending U.S. reliance on the minerals has been a top priority for Washington since last year, when Beijing imposed export restrictions on what are known as rare earths.
Neodymium at a factory in Inner Mongolia, China. Japan remains highly dependent on China for rare earths even though it has had some success in diversifying its supply chain in the last decade.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 14, 2026
Japan companies assessing impact of China’s rare-earth curbs
Any impact is unlikely to be apparent until next month, according to a person familiar with the matter.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Japan plans to sharply raise fees for residence permits from October
Foreign tourists walk on the path leading to the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in May.
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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