Tag - us

 
 

US

Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick held a 110-minute meeting on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025
In tariff talks with the U.S., Japan may have blinked
Tokyo is backing off from its insistence that all new tariffs be removed, according to a Friday report by the Asahi Shimbun.
Japan's exports in terms of value dropped 3% in the first 20 days of May from the same period a year earlier, indicating the impact of U.S. tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025
Japan’s early May exports drop as tariff woes upend commerce
Exports measured by value dropped 3% in the first 20 days of May, which compared with a 2% rise for April.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass visits the Northrop Grumman booth during the Defence and Security Equipment International Japan trade show at Makuhari Messe in the city of Chiba last month.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 6, 2025
U.S. envoy plays down Washington-Tokyo trade row
George Glass dismissed concerns that tensions over unilateral U.S. tariffs could lead to a repeat of the trade war between the two countries in the 1980s.
A Mercedes-Benz production line in Rastatt, Germany, earlier this month. European auto suppliers alone have filed hundreds of requests to China for rare earths since early April, with only about a quarter granted.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 6, 2025
The world's auto supply chain is in the hands of a few Chinese bureaucrats
China holds a near-monopoly on rare earth magnets — a crucial component in EV motors — and it added them to an export control list in April.
Venezuelan migrants arrive after being deported from the United States, at Simon Bolivar International Airport, in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on April 23.
WORLD
Jun 6, 2025
Dismay and disbelief as Trump bans visitors from a dozen countries
Trump said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a "large-scale presence of terrorists."
The highly anticipated call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping came in the middle of a dispute over "rare earths" minerals that threatened to tear up a fragile truce in the trade war.
WORLD
Jun 6, 2025
Trump and Xi pledge more talks as trade disputes brew
In a rare call, Trump and Xi pledged to resume trade talks, but tensions over rare earth minerals and Taiwan remained unresolved.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 6, 2025
Germany’s Merz lets Trump do the talking and survives Oval Office meeting
Merz heeded the advice from a number of European leaders that he should let Trump do most of the talking, and when he did talk, to praise the president.
Many economies in Asia have invested at much lower levels on defense than the U.S., expecting the support of Washington’s military might.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 6, 2025
Asia sees Trump’s 5%-of-GDP defense spending goal as unrealistic
In interviews, key defense officials in Asia have been clear: The ambition is understood, but the math just doesn’t add up.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz delivers a speech in Berlin on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2025
After courting and criticizing Trump from afar, Merz now set to meet U.S. leader
Past meetings between the two countries’ leaders have often been formalities to reinforce their unshakable postwar partnership. This time is different.
United Nations Security Council members vote on a resolution calling for a ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian access in Gaza, at U.N. headquarters in New York on June Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2025
Anger as U.S. blocks Gaza ceasefire resolution at U.N. Security Council
It was the 15-member body's first vote on the situation since November, when the United States also blocked a text calling for an end to fighting.
A Tirtir store in Seoul on May 23
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 5, 2025
South Korean beauty brands bet boom in U.S. demand outlasts tariff pain
The startups are expanding their bricks-and-mortar presence in the world's biggest consumer market, confident their mass appeal will offset tariff costs.
Harvey Weinstein, accused of three sex crimes, appears for his retrial at the State Supreme Court in Manhattan on May 9.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Jun 5, 2025
'No means no,' prosecutor tells jurors as Harvey Weinstein trial wraps
The cinema magnate's retrial follows the overturning of his 2020 convictions on rape and sexual assault charges by an appeals court.
Joseph Nye (left) joins then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as he speaks at Harvard’s Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in April 2015. The deaths of Nye and Richard Armitage, two giants in Japan-U.S. relations, will surely leave a lasting impact on the alliance they helped shape.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 5, 2025
A new generation of 'Japan hands' and a changing world
For decades, Joseph Nye and Richard Armitage helped shape a vision of U.S.-Japan ties grounded in shared values, strategic trust and mutual respect.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2025
Trump’s late-night lament over Xi deepens impasse in trade fight
Exactly what the Chinese are asking the White House to relinquish in order to secure a phone call with their leader remains unclear.
Malware used by Chinese state-backed hacking groups was on the systems of a U.S. telecommunications firm for seven months starting in the summer of 2023, investigators claim.
WORLD
Jun 5, 2025
Chinese hacked U.S. telecom a year before known wireless breaches
The hack raises questions about when Chinese intruders established a foothold in the American communications industry.
The draft also expresses strong concern about China's attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 5, 2025
Japan to name China as its biggest strategic challenge
It is unusual for the annual economic and fiscal policy guidelines to criticize China for its coercive behavior toward neighboring countries.
Afghan refugees queue outside a distribution and donation center in New Jersey in December 2021. U.S. President Donald Trump's second-term travel ban covers 12 countries, including Afghanistan.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2025
Trump signs travel ban for 12 countries including Afghanistan
The move is the latest step in what has been a sweeping immigration agenda aimed at cracking down on undocumented migration.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the government via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2025
Putin tells Trump Russia has to respond to Ukrainian attacks
After Ukraine bombed bridges and attacked Russia's fleet of bombers, Putin said he did not think Ukraine's leaders wanted peace.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a news conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 30.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2025
Will ex-aide Musk leave a stink in the White House?
U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill has careened into an Elon Musk-shaped brick wall, complicating its passage into law.
America's reluctance to provide air defenses sought by its European partners highlights how the western allies are at odds over how to deal with Russian aggression in Ukraine.
WORLD / Politics
Jun 5, 2025
U.S. said to deny air cover to Europe force in postwar Ukraine
The U.S. reluctance to provide the backup sought by its European partners highlights how the allies are at odds over the way to deal with Russia.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes