Donald Trump’s insistence that “spoiled” Japan imports more US rice is adding to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s problems ahead of elections that could sink his premiership after less than a year in office.Japan is one of more than 20 countries receiving letters this week from the US president warning of “reciprocal” tariffs from August 1 failing a trade agreement with Washington. The 25 percent across-the-board levy for Japan is separate from similar charges for cars, steel and aluminium that have already been imposed.Trump wants to get Japanese firms to manufacture more in the United States and for Tokyo to buy more US goods — notably gas and oil, cars and rice — to reduce the $70 billion trade deficit with the Asian powerhouse.”I have great respect for Japan, they won’t take our RICE, and yet they have a massive rice shortage,” Trump said on Truth Social on June 30.Rice, though, is small fry in the grand scheme of bilateral business between the countries.BMI Fitch Solutions said that it accounts for only 0.37 percent of US exports to Japan, and that even doubling that would have a “negligible” effect on overall trade.”(The) Trump administration seems more concerned with the optics of striking deals than with meaningfully narrowing the US trade deficit,” BMI said.For Japan, doubling imports could be swallowed if only the economic impact is considered.It could be well worth it if such a concession could reduce or even remove Trump’s damaging 25 percent tariff on Japanese autos.- Lost majority -But the politics of rice are fraught for Ishiba, whose ruling coalition disastrously lost its majority in lower house elections in October.Upper house elections on July 20 could see a similar drubbing, which might prompt Ishiba to quit, 10 months after taking the helm of the long-dominant but unloved Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).Rice Japan holds a cherished place in Japanese national culture — samurai reputedly used to be paid in it.Relying on imports — currently almost all rice consumed is grown domestically — would be seen by many as a national humiliation for the country of 124 million people, and risky.”Culturally, and historically, the Japanese people are all about rice,” Shinichi Katayama, the fourth-generation owner of 120-year-old Tokyo rice wholesaler Sumidaya, told AFP.”I personally welcome having an additional option for Japanese consumers. But I also feel the move (letting in lots of foreign rice) is too early from the standpoint of food security,” he said.”If we become reliant on rice imports, we may face shortages again when something happens.”While Japan already imports rice from the United States, many consumers see foreign, long-grain varieties as being of dubious quality and lacking the requisite stickiness of the homegrown short-grain rice.Bad memories linger from when Japan suffered a cold summer in 1993 and had to import large volumes of the grain from Thailand.American rice “tastes awful. It lacks stickiness”, said Sueo Matsumoto, 69, who helps families where children have hearing difficulties.”If they (the Americans) want to export to Japan, they must work at it. They must think about consumer preference,” he told AFP in Tokyo.- No sacrifice -As a result, Ishiba’s government has been at pains to say it won’t bend on the issue — although this may change after the election.”We have no intention of sacrificing agriculture in future negotiations,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said recently.”Ishiba is walking a narrow plank, wary of provoking powerful domestic lobbies like rice farmers, while juggling an approval rating that would make aggressive trade moves politically perilous,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.The government has already been under fire for the recent skyrocketing of rice prices, which have roughly doubled in 12 months.Factors include a very hot summer in 2023, panic-buying after a warning of an imminent “megaquake” in 2024,  alleged hoarding by some traders, and a surge in rice-hungry tourists. To help ease the pain, Tokyo is tapping emergency stockpiles, and imports have risen sharply — led by rice from California — but these are still tiny compared with domestic production.”All these problems with rice prices show the LDP’s agriculture policy has failed,” retiree Yasunari Wakasa, 77, told AFP.

Asian markets mostly rose Thursday on optimism that governments will hammer out deals to avoid the worst of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs even after he broadened his range of measures.Negotiators from around the world have tried to reach agreements with Washington since Trump in April unveiled his “Liberation Day” tariff bombshell, with a July 9 deadline recently pushed back to August 1.Letters have been sent in recent days to more than 20 trading partners — including Japan and South Korea — setting out new tolls, with some higher and some lower than the initial levels.The US president also said this week he would put a 50 percent tariff on copper imports, while considering a 200 percent charge for pharmaceuticals.However, analysts said the threats are largely being seen as negotiating tools, and investors have increasingly taken them in their stride, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting all-time highs in New York.And David Chao, global market strategist for Asia Pacific at Invesco, painted a positive picture even in light of the threatened levies.”Should the US ultimately impose higher tariffs on Asian countries, the region appears better positioned to withstand the resulting headwinds,” he wrote.”A softer dollar should give Asian central banks greater flexibility to ease policy to support their domestic economies without heightened concerns over currency depreciation.”Asian stocks mostly advanced after a healthy lead from Wall Street, where the Nasdaq hit another peak thanks to a surge in Nvidia that pushed the firm to a $4 trillion valuation at one point.Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta all rose, though Tokyo edged down with Wellington.The broadly upbeat mood helped push bitcoin above $112,000 for the first time.There was also little reaction to news that Trump had hit Brazil with a 50 percent tariff as he blasted the trial of the country’s ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.In a letter addressed to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, he called the treatment of his right-wing ally an “international disgrace”. Bolsonaro is on trial over accusations he plotted a coup after his 2022 election loss to Lula.Lula said he will impose reciprocal levies on the United States.Brazil had not been among those threatened with these higher duties previously, with the United States running a goods trade surplus instead with the South American giant.Traders were given few guides on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate plans after minutes from its June policy meeting showed officials divided on the best way forward.Boss Jerome Powell’s patient approach to lowering borrowing costs has drawn the ire of Trump, who on Wednesday said they were “at least” three points too high.While the board sees the president’s tariffs as inflationary, the minutes said there remained “considerable uncertainty” on the timing, size and duration of the effects.Companies might choose not to raise consumer prices until they depleted their product stockpiles, for example, but supply chain disruptions caused by the levies could trigger larger price hikes.”While a few participants noted that tariffs would lead to a one-time increase in prices and would not affect longer-term inflation expectations, most participants noted the risk that tariffs could have more persistent effects on inflation,” the report said.- Key figures at around 0230 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.5 percent at 39,610.61 (break)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 23,938.07Shanghai – Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,503.13Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1741 from $1.1719 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3608 from $1.3590Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.95 yen from 146.30 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.28 pence from 86.21 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $68.28 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.1 percent at $70.15 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 44,458.30 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 8,867.02 (close)