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Investing.com-- U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out against Japan over the country’s alleged unwillingness to buy American-grown rice, and hinted at potentially ending trade talks with Tokyo.
It was not immediately clear what rice Trump was referring to, given that Japan imported at least $298 million of U.S. rice in 2024, U.S. Census Bureau data showed. CNN reported that Trump’s criticism was aimed at Japan’s highly regulated system of rice imports, which, according to an analysis by the Biden administration, limited the ability of U.S. exporters to meaningfully access Japanese consumers.
“To show people how spoiled Countries have become with respect to the United States of America… they won’t take our RICE, and yet they have a massive rice shortage,” Trump said in a post on Truth.Social.
“We’ll just be sending them a letter, and we love having them as a Trading Partner for many years to come.”
Trump’s letter comment refers to his plans to send countries letters setting the U.S. tariff rate for them, if they are unable to reach a trade deal with the White House by Trump’s July 9 deadline.
Talks between the U.S. and Japan were seen stalling in recent weeks, as Tokyo largely maintained its demand to be exempted from all U.S. tariffs. Japanese lawmakers have also chided the impact of Trump’s tariffs on automobiles, which are a major export for the country.
Trump had earlier this week said Japan would have to pay 25% tariffs on its automobile exports. Under the president’s planned “reciprocal” tariffs, Japan faces a minimum tariff of 24%.
Japan is facing a major rice shortage that pushed domestic rice prices to multi-year highs, and also sparked a sharp increase in rice imports. Recent trade data showed a bulk of rice shipments came from the U.S. in May.