Takeshi Niinami, CEO and President of Suntor Holdings at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 24, 2025.
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According to Takeshi Niinami, a senior economic adviser to Japan has “many cards” in tariff negotiations with the United States, senior economic advisor to the Prime Minister of Japan.
His comments are ahead Three -day journey By the best negotiator Ryosei Akazawa to the USA for talks with the Secretary of the US Treasury Scott Bessent and US trade representative Jamieson Greer.
Niinami, who is also the president and general director of the Japanese producer of Suntory Holdings drinks, said CNBC “Squawk Box asia“That he is” carefully optimistic “about commercial conversations.
He noted that Japan was The largest foreign investor in the USA and the largest foreign owner of US treasury bonds.
Japan should therefore talk about the greater possibilities of investing in the United States and will keep his huge supplies of American Treasurys, said Niinami, adding “we know that the president is (very concerned) on the bond market”, referring to US President Donald Trump.
Japan has about USD 1.1 trillion in American Treasura, and Trump said that the sale of the bond market last week was one of the reasons why it turned to his “mutual” tariffs.
“I thought people were jumping a little from the line,” said Trump. “They got A bit of yippa, he is a little afraid.“
Kevin Hassett, director of the US National Economic Council, said CNBC on April 10 that the fall of the bond market contributed to Trump's decision.
. 10 years of treasury performance From April 8, it increased above 4.5% of speculation, a large foreign owner, such as Japan or China, dropped the US bonds. Bond prices are inversely to performance and Growing yields can mean higher mortgage rates in the USA.
Niinami said that with another movement of Tokyo would be to talk about military purchases from the USA, because he tries to increase defense expenditure to 2% of the gross domestic product.
Japan and the United States have deep military relations, and Japanese self -defense forces use a wide range of American equipment, including fighters, helicopters and small arms.
“Let's normalize relations because we are the greatest ally of the United States. So we want to normalize the relationship and want to improve the relationship between (USA and Japan in terms of regional security,” said Niinami.
Japan was affected by a 24% “mutual” tariff by Trump, although it was suspended for 90 days from April 9, leaving a 10% basic tariff.
Niinami also said that although Japan is not ideal for investing in the US, taking into account the current situation, he admitted that the US performance is much higher than other countries, which makes the market attractive.
“I think we don't like the current plan from the United States, but we want to invest (in) the United States,” he concluded.
– Alex Harring from CNBC contributed to this story.