When Tokyo's top trade negotiator met U.S. President Donald Trump for tariff talks at the White House earlier this month, he presented him with a gold-colored piggy bank.
One detail, seemingly unnoticed by those in the room, is that the gift was made in China, the focal point for Trump's sweeping trade war that has engulfed Japan and dozens of other countries, roiled financial markets and stoked recession fears.
As Trump seeks to leverage his tariff threats to strike scores of bilateral deals in a matter of months, the well-traveled present was an unintended reminder of the complexity of the global supply chains he is seeking to redraw.
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