Trump Announces Limited Trade Pact With Japan – The New York Times

American farmers welcomed the Japanese trade agreement. Doug Goyings, an Ohio wheat farmer and the chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates, said the deal would lower Japanese tariffs on wheat to the same level paid by producers in Canada and Australia, two countries that signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership with Japan.

“This agreement puts U.S. wheat back on equal footing,” Mr. Goyings said.

The new Japan deal is far more limited than the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other traditional trade pacts, which cover a wide range of industries and rules that govern trade. But it will still bolster the Trump administration’s argument that it has a positive trade agenda for breaking down trade barriers and expanding markets for American exporters, not just picking fights and levying tariffs, as some critics suggest.

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump said that the deal would cover “a big chunk” of the relationship but that “in the fairly near future we’re going to be having a lot more very comprehensive deals signed with Japan.”

The Trump administration has said it will continue with a second stage of negotiations with Japan in a push toward a more comprehensive trade deal. Companies and industry groups have urged the administration to continue working toward a more traditional trade agreement that would protect a wider variety of businesses without delay.

Michael Beckerman, the president of the Internet Association, which represents major companies including Google, Amazon, eBay and Uber, said the digital trade provisions that the United States and Japan had agreed on would expand the $38 billion in digital trade between the two countries and enshrine important rules of the road.

The agreement prohibits customs duties on digital products like e-books and software, ensures the free flow of data across borders and prohibits governments from arbitrarily accessing sensitive source code and algorithms, among other protections sought by the tech industry.

Mr. Beckerman said there was “still more work to be done” to ensure that the rest of America’s digital trade framework, including intellectual property protections and government purchases of technology products, was included in a full free trade agreement.