Aurelia Butler

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The world’s top poultry exporter Brazil said on Friday it had detected avian flu on a commercial farm for the first time, leading its biggest customer China to suspend chicken imports.Brazil, which makes up about a quarter of global poultry exports, was the last big exporter unaffected by the outbreak. The virus began in the US and then swept into Europe, leading to sharp rises in egg and poultry prices and straining household budgets.Brazil’s agriculture minister Carlos Fávaro said the Chinese trade ban would last 60 days, but the government was working to contain the virus and hoped the restrictions would be lifted sooner.“If we manage to eliminate the outbreak, we think it is possible to re-establish a normal trade flow before the 60 days are up,” Fávaro told CNN Brasil.Brazil had been enjoying “a distinct advantage” in reaching markets that had restricted trade with countries affected by the disease, USA Poultry and Egg Export Council chief executive Greg Tyler said last week. Bird flu had had “a devastating impact” on global exports as a whole, he said.Brazil exported $9.46bn of poultry in the year to March, with about 14 per cent going to China, according to The Observatory of Economic Complexity. Other destinations include the UAE, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.The virus was identified on a breeding facility in the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, where state authorities said an investigation would take place within a 10km radius of the property.The US has been forced to cull 31mn birds, incurring multibillion-dollar losses, while leading European producer Poland has killed more than 10mn.Latin America’s largest nation found cases of avian flu among wild birds in 2023. Its agriculture ministry stressed that the disease was not transmitted by the consumption of poultry, meat or eggs.“The risk of human infection by the avian influenza virus is low and, in most cases, occurs among handlers or professionals who have intense contact with infected birds,” it added.China had stricter protocols for such cases compared with other countries, Fávaro said, adding that the likes of Japan and Saudi Arabia only ban produce from the state or municipality hit by the virus, not the whole country. Shipments of chicken already in transit would not be affected, he said.Globally, the number of new bird flu outbreaks surged by 91 per cent from January to February 2025, reaching 980.China’s import restriction occurs just days after a state visit to Beijing by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, during which Brazilian authorities announced R$27bn ($4.7bn) of investments by Chinese companies.The country is Brazil’s largest trading partner and a voracious consumer of its commodities, from crude oil and iron ore to soyabeans and beef.BRF, the world’s largest poultry exporter, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Protein company JBS referred the Financial Times to the Brazilian Animal Protein Association, which said the situation was “under control”. More

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldRepublicans are souring on Donald Trump’s policies, pushing a closely watched measure of consumers’ confidence in the US economy to its second-lowest level on record. The University of Michigan’s overall index of consumer sentiment tumbled to 50.8 in May, from 52.2 the previous month, while the expectations figure fell to 46.5 amid mounting fears that people could soon start to lose their jobs.The poll also showed people’s expectations of inflation a year from now soared from 6.5 per cent to 7.3 per cent — its highest level since 1981 — as people bet that the Trump administration’s trade war would lead to a rise in prices.Longer-term inflation expectations also edged up from 4.4 per cent to 4.6 per cent, as registered Republicans became increasingly concerned that tariffs would have an enduring impact on American prices.“The flag over inflation expectations is bright red,” said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics.The elevated expectations shown in Friday’s survey come days after data showed inflation hit a four-year low of 2.3 per cent in April. Figures on Thursday showed that producer prices tumbled last month, but that businesses’ profit margins were being squeezed as they absorb costs associated with tariffs.The survey showed consumer sentiment for registered Republicans ticked down from 90.2 to 84.2, the lowest reading since November. An index tracking their economic expectations ticked down from 95.9 to 90.8, another six-month low.While registered Democrats have long been negative on the president’s economic policy agenda, the poll indicates that the chaos following “liberation day”, which wiped trillions off global capital markets, also cost Trump support among his own party.Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.The readings were taken between April 22 and May 13, meaning that most respondents will not have factored in the impact of the détente between the US and China several days ago.The truce lowered tariffs on one of the US’s biggest trading partners from 145 per cent to 30 per cent until mid-August. Even if a permanent deal between Washington and Beijing were reached, Americans could still end up paying more for goods. Walmart chief executive Doug McMillon warned that the world’s largest retailer was not “able to absorb all the pressure” and that “higher tariffs will result in higher prices”.The pollsters said the final release would contain more information on whether the May 12 pause on China tariffs affected people’s expectations. “It appears that households were more alarmed by the tit-for-tat escalation in tariffs with China than they were soothed by the reciprocal tariff pause for other countries or the drop back in energy prices,” said Alexandra Brown, North America economist at Capital Economics. “Given the latest deal with China to reverse most of those prohibitively high tariffs, however, sentiment should soon rebound.” More

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldDonald Trump has held out the prospect that the US will impose higher tariff rates on many of its trading partners, rather than striking deals with all of them.Speaking at a meeting with business executives in the United Arab Emirates on Friday, the US president said Washington would impose new tariffs “over the next two to three weeks”.Trump said that, while “150 countries” wanted to agree deals, “it’s not possible to meet the number of people that want to see us”.He added that Treasury secretary Scott Bessent and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick would “be sending letters out essentially telling people” what “they’ll be paying to do business in the United States”.Trump unveiled steep tariffs of up to 50 per cent on most US trading partners in early April, before lowering them to 10 per cent for 90 days to allow countries time to negotiate lower levies. The president’s suggestion that countries may face higher tariffs ahead of the deadline will inject further uncertainty into the US’s erratic trade policy rollout, which has been marked by a series of reversals and U-turns.US officials have been holding talks with the country’s major trading partners since before Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs took effect in early April, with foreign negotiators seeking to head off the worst of the duties.Along with the “reciprocal” tariffs that Trump has levied on most US trading partners, his administration has announced tariffs of 25 per cent on steel, aluminium and auto imports.It has also launched probes that could lead to levies on semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, copper, lumber, critical minerals and aerospace parts. So far, only the UK has managed to strike a limited deal to lower some of Trump’s sectoral tariffs, scoring a reduced rate for a limited number of cars, along with steel and aluminium exports to the US. But London failed to bring Trump’s “reciprocal” tariff below 10 per cent. US officials have said this will be the minimum tariff imposed by Washington.US officials are in talks with South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, India, the European Union and other partners over potential deals to lower US tariffs on their goods.Last weekend, Bessent and US trade representative Jamieson Greer sought to de-escalate trade tensions with China, leading both sides to substantially lower tariffs and agree to further talks. More

This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Subscribers can sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get the newsletter delivered every weekday morning. Explore all of our newsletters hereGood morning and welcome back to FirstFT at the end of a whirlwind week of diplomacy in the Middle East. More on Trump’s Gulf trip below and here’s what else is on today’s agenda: AI groups focus on memoryNew revelations about Joe Biden’s cognitive stateAnd should you buy multiple versions of the same garment?We start today with a look at how artificial intelligence companies are grappling with the challenge of how to retain memories as they battle to make the technology more compelling and personalised.Why are groups including OpenAI, Google, Meta and Microsoft stepping up their focus on memory? The area is viewed as an important way for top AI groups to attract customers in a competitive market for chatbots and agents and make their products more “sticky”. It is also a means to generate revenues from the cutting-edge technology. “If you have an agent that really knows you, because it has kept this memory of conversations, it makes the whole service more sticky, so that once you’ve signed on to using [one product] you will never go to another one,” Pattie Maes, a professor at MIT’s media lab and specialist in human interaction with AI, told the FT’s Cristina Criddle.How are AI groups building these memories? AI groups, such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, have made huge strides by expanding context windows, which determine how much of a conversation a chatbot can remember at once, and using techniques such as retrieval-augmented generation, which identifies relevant context from external data. AI groups have also boosted the long-term memory of their models by storing user profiles and preferences to provide more useful and personalised responses. What are some examples of how these advances are being used? OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Meta’s chatbot in WhatsApp and Messenger can already reference past conversations, instead of just the current session. In March, Google expanded Gemini’s memory to a user’s search history — as long as the person gives permission — compared with previously being limited to conversations with the chatbot, and plans to expand this to other Google apps in the future. For businesses, Microsoft has used organisational data to inform memory, such as emails, calendars and intranet files. Read more about the advances being made by AI groups around memory and some of the issues raised by critics.Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today and over the weekend:Economic data: The Commerce Department’s Census Bureau is set to report data on housing starts and permits. Separately, the Department of Labor releases import and export prices for April. Brazil’s statistics agency updates the country’s inflation index. Federal Reserve: It’s day two of the Thomas Laubach Research Conference, hosted by the US central bank and related to monetary policy and the economy. Panellists include former Fed chair Ben Bernanke.Trump trip: The president is in the United Arab Emirates on the final leg of his visit to the oil-rich region. The UAE has ambitions to become an AI hub and has agreed to build the largest group of data centres outside the US. How well did you keep up with the news this week? Take our quiz.Five more top stories1. Japan has signalled it is prepared to hold out for a better trade deal with the US, pushing for full removal of Donald Trump’s 25 per cent duty on imports of Japanese cars and better treatment of farmers rather than risk a domestic political backlash. Leo Lewis and Harry Dempsey in Tokyo have more on this story. 2. Nvidia is seeking to build a research and development centre in Shanghai that would help the world’s leading maker of artificial intelligence processors stay competitive in China, where its sales have slumped due to tightening US export controls. Read details of Nvidia’s plans.3. Democratic operatives have urged Joe Biden to avoid public appearances as dramatic revelations about his cognitive state during the 2024 presidential race hit the party’s efforts to oppose Donald Trump. A much-anticipated book from journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson is due out next week and includes new examples of Biden’s lapses.4. Federal Reserve policymakers’ aims to curb inflation while maximising employment are “pulling them in diametrically different directions”, the head of Fidelity’s $2.3tn fixed income business has told the FT. The comments come as Trump’s tariffs threaten to increase inflation and hit the jobs market. Read the full interview with Robin Foley. 5. US cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase was yesterday targeted by hackers who stole customer data and demanded $20mn to prevent its public disclosure. The group, which is set to become the first crypto exchange to join the S&P 500 on May 19, said the cyber demands were made on Sunday. Coinbase shares dropped more than 7 per cent on the news.Join us for a subscriber-only webinar on May 28 for insights into the most consequential geopolitical rivalry of our time: the US-China showdown. Register now and put questions to our panel.News in depth‘I like him too much’ Donald Trump said of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week More

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Richemont chair Johann Rupert said the luxury group would avoid sudden, sharp prices that could spark a consumer backlash, as it contends with the impact of US tariffs. Rupert said that being restrained on price rises in the past four years compared with some rivals had “benefited” the Swiss luxury group amid some customer backlash over the increases. He also warned against creating the kinds of price differences that push clients to shop across borders, as happened last year when a weak yen resulted in Chinese tourists flocking to buy luxury products in Japan at lower prices. “We will not make sudden rapid price increases,” Rupert said on Friday, adding that the company would make adjustments to account for issues such as currency volatility. “Obviously we need universal pricing otherwise people travel across borders . . . There is a bit of a backlash on some price increases among some competitors.” Rivals including Hermès have already said they will push up prices in the US to offset the impact of tariffs there, while research from Citi has shown brands including LVMH’s Louis Vuitton have been increasing prices on some products in some regions in April. Richemont’s Van Cleef and Cartier have also increased prices on some products. Many luxury brands have pushed through substantial price rises on their products since 2019, with the cost on some Chanel and Dior bags up by high double digits in that period, leading to criticism from clients as the heady days of the pandemic luxury boom fade. Both Richemont and Hermès, maker of Birkin bags, have been more restrained in their price rises over that period, according to analysts.Business at Richemont’s jewellery houses continued to boom despite a tough economic environment as the Swiss luxury group reported full-year results on Friday, though its watchmaking business came under pressure. Sales in its jewellery division, which includes Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, rose to €3.7bn in the three months to March 31, an 11 per cent increase on the same period a year ago excluding currency movements, beating consensus expectations. However, sales in the watchmaking operation fell 11 per cent. Group sales increased 7 per cent to €5.2bn in the quarter, with revenues rising more than 10 per cent in all regions except Asia-Pacific, where they dropped 7 per cent. Jean-Philippe Bertschy, head of Swiss equity research at Vontobel, said Cartier was “clearly a standout” brand at the moment, not only in jewellery but also in terms of the softness in the rest of the luxury watch industry. The bank estimated sales of Cartier watches were up 8 per cent for the 2025 financial year, defying a drop of 13 per cent in the market as a whole. “Growth and profit are spectacular, especially when comparing to key competitor LVMH,” he said of Richemont’s results overall. Richemont reported an annual operating profit of €4.5bn, down 7 per cent from the previous year as a slowdown in the watchmaking division contributing to the decline. Rupert said he expected a recovery in the depressed Chinese luxury market but said US-China trade tensions meant the timeline for this was uncertain. “The US are using the tariffs in a transactional manner, and I do believe that there are wise people in [the] Treasury in the US that do not wish for total cessation of world trade,” said Rupert. More

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.This article is an on-site version of our Unhedged newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newslettersGood morning. Walmart’s CEO warned yesterday that tariffs would force it to raise prices this year — even after the recent decrease in duties on China. The retail giant said last quarter that it did not know how much tariffs would affect the core business. It appears to know more now, and the news is not good for consumers. Email us: [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected]. GoldThe other day on the Unhedged podcast, I speculated that perhaps gold, which hit the astonishing level of $3,250 a few weeks ago and has drifted sideways ever since, might have put in its long-term high. My reasoning for this is embarrassingly simple: we’ve reached peak tariff anxiety — and perhaps peak Trump anxiety — and the price is already really high.My colleague Toby Nangle heard the podcast and sent along this chart from the latest Bank of America Global Fund Manager Survey:The highest-ever proportion of managers in the survey think gold is overvalued — almost 50 per cent (light blue columns). But that’s not the interesting bit. The interesting bit is that the last two times a lot of managers agreed that gold was overvalued, in 2020 and in 2011, they were right. Look at how gold performed subsequently (dark blue line). After 2011’s fall, it took a decade for gold to retake its high in nominal terms. Usually, when you ask a bunch of investors whether something is under- or overvalued, and a bunch of them agree, the thing to do is run the other way. A deep consensus can only do two things for an asset’s price. It can stay like it is (no price movement) or it can reverse (price goes against the old consensus). There just aren’t very many people outside of the main view left to convert, which causes the consensus to cave in on itself — rewarding those who went against the grain. Investor sentiment has actually tended to be right with gold, however, and I don’t know why. Hamad Hussain of Capital Economics agrees that consensus may be right this time, too, and gold could be rangebound for a while. He notes that the last two big rallies (1976-1982, 2008-2012) lasted three to four years, and by that standard this one is starting to age. And his team expects the dollar to rebound in the medium term, which would be a headwind. He also points out that gold ETF inflows — which, in a break with history, have not been a big contributor to this rally — are now rising. The key marginal buyers in the rally have been institutional buyers, especially in Asia, as well as central banks. But ETF buyers are mostly financial buyers in the west, who are sensitive to things such as dollar strength and real US interest rates. If financial buyers are in charge, those factors will assert themselves again, potentially to gold’s detriment. Here is Hussain’s quite dramatic chart:The gold price is hard to understand, but it always seems to be saying something interesting.Inflation expectationsA month ago we observed that while long-term inflation expectations were stable and not contributing much to rising bond yields, short-term inflation expectations (as measured by inflation swaps) were rising fast. Tariff worries appeared to be translating into expectations of a short burst of inflation, but not sustained price rises. Markets may have expected tariff-induced inflation to be transitory, or an inflation-killing growth slowdown, or both.That trend has reversed — in part. Longer-term inflation expectations (pink and light blue lines) have been ticking up since mid-April, and short-term expectations (dark blue line) for inflation fell dramatically after the Trump administration reined in the tariffs on China:It’s clear that the prospect of lower tariffs on China — whose cheap goods help keep US prices down — is causing markets to downgrade their short-term price expectations. Good. The increase in longer-term expectations is also good, at least to the extent it reflects better growth expectations. The US economy is still quite strong, and without the tariff dampener, it could stay that way. Stagflation seems to be coming off the table.But this also raises questions for the market and, crucially, the Federal Reserve. Back in April, we were rather concerned about short-term inflation. Now that fear is shifting to the long term. As the Fed constantly points out, a key metric in its rate decision is long-term inflation expectations. If they are in check, the Fed has more flexibility to lower rates. If longer-term inflation expectations continue rising — creeping towards 3 per cent — the Fed may have to keep rates higher for longer, even if there is weakness in the labour market.And there is reason to think they will continue rising. Long-term inflation expectations are around where they were right before “liberation day” — but tariffs are much higher today than on April 1 (a 30 per cent tariff on China will still be felt, as Walmart has just pointed out). It’s possible that before “liberation day” the market expected even worse; Trump did float 10 per cent global tariffs, and 60 per cent on China during the campaign. The market may have also bought into the “Taco” trade, and thinks tariffs will soon be lower still. Yet, if the 30 per cent is locked in for the long term, inflationary pressures could rise all across the curve. And we already were on a rising trend:Notice the step change after Covid-19. This is what the Fed has been fighting against for nearly three years now: higher inflation expectations, as a result of strong growth and the jump in prices in 2022. The bond market thinks we are still in a higher-inflation regime, potentially for the long haul.The bond market doesn’t know anything the rest of us don’t. It won’t form a firm opinion about the inflation outlook until tariff policy becomes clear. If it ever does.(Reiter)One good readGene editing.FT Unhedged podcastCan’t get enough of Unhedged? Listen to our new podcast, for a 15-minute dive into the latest markets news and financial headlines, twice a week. Catch up on past editions of the newsletter here.Recommended newsletters for youDue Diligence — Top stories from the world of corporate finance. Sign up hereThe Lex Newsletter — Lex, our investment column, breaks down the week’s key themes, with analysis by award-winning writers. Sign up here More

This article is an on-site version of our Europe Express newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every weekday and fortnightly on Saturday morning. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here, or explore all FT newslettersGood morning. Today could mark a decisive moment in the Ukraine war, as Russian and Ukrainian delegations meet in Istanbul. Or it could not.Our Balkans correspondent previews Sunday’s election in Romania, where geopolitical alignment and economic stability are both at stake. And France’s trade minister takes the pulse of negotiations with the US with our trade correspondent. Have a wonderful weekend.Darkening horizon“Pivotal moment” is an understatement for what Romania will go through this weekend, as the country decides between two starkly different presidential candidates: the centrist, pro-EU mayor of Bucharest Nicuşor Dan, and the ultranationalist rising star George Simion, writes Marton Dunai.Context: Far-right candidate Călin Georgescu won the first round of Romania’s presidential elections in November, forcing an unprecedented annulment of the vote when it turned out that he had enjoyed clandestine backing from Russia and lied about his campaign. He was banned from running again.The repeat vote, which enters its run-off on Sunday, elevated Simion to pole position.Romania’s semi-presidential system offers the country’s head of state a crucial seat on the European Council, as well as a key role in government formation, leadership of the armed forces and the secret services, and the final say on foreign policy.That would hand Simion, who is banned from entering neighbouring Ukraine and Moldova over statements and activities deemed subversive, significant power. He represents a style of EU antagonism that has been the hallmark of Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán, who has endorsed Simion, much to the dismay of Romania’s ethnic Hungarian minority, which fears Simion’s virulent chauvinism.Simion has sought to allay such fears with promises to keep the country in the EU and Nato, and attempts to seek international alliances with leaders from Orbán and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni all the way to Donald Trump.Still, markets were jolted when Simion received 41 per cent of votes in the first round. The national currency fell below the level of 5 leu per euro for the first time, and a debt auction had to be postponed.Expect more turbulence if Simion wins — a scenario markets are already bracing for with an eye on the country’s debt rating, one notch above junk with a negative outlook.In addition to those issues, the coalition government formed by establishment parties fell apart after their defeat in the first round, leaving the tough talks to recreate a ruling majority to the new president.Chart du jour: Deeper pocketsSome content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.Germany’s new government has signalled it will follow Donald Trump’s demand for Nato members to raise defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP. This comes as Nato’s procurement arm is embroiled in a corruption probe.Talking shopThe US and EU are finally getting down to business on tariff negotiations, EU trade ministers heard yesterday, as they approach the halfway stage of a 90-day truce in Donald Trump’s trade war, writes Andy Bounds.Context: US President Trump hit Brussels with 20 per cent tariffs in April, and then halved them to 10 per cent until July 8 while they negotiate a deal. The US also imposed a 25 per cent levy on steel, aluminium and cars, and threatened more measures. Speaking on arrival at a trade ministers meeting yesterday, EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said talks were going to “intensify”, and that he was speaking to his Washington counterparts daily.Several EU ministers said that the deal the UK made with the US, accepting so-called reciprocal tariffs of 10 per cent in exchange for some relief from sectoral tariffs, was not a model they would replicate.“Why would there be 20 or 10 per cent reciprocal tariffs? On what basis?” French trade minister Laurent Saint-Martin told journalists.Saint-Martin, who a month ago was calling for swift retaliation, now is happy with Šefčovič’s more cautious strategy. But he also noted that Trump was de-escalating with China, which had been playing hardball, after their stand-off put pressure on the economy and the stock market.The EU has paused its retaliatory tariffs on €21bn in goods because of the ongoing negotiations. Paris had lobbied successfully to remove bourbon whiskey from the list, fearing Trump would hit its wine and spirits exports in exchange. The European Commission has now added it to the next €95bn retaliation package, which must be approved by member states. Saint-Martin did not say whether France would try to remove it again.But he said the EU would not bow to US pressure to scrap VAT or weaken EU rules. “We have to be consistent in our convictions, in what we defend and what we want to seek at the end of the negotiations.”What to watch today European leaders attend the European Political Community summit in Tirana, Albania.Defence ministers from Italy, the UK, Germany, Poland and France meet in Rome.Now read theseRecommended newsletters for you Free Lunch — Your guide to the global economic policy debate. Sign up hereThe State of Britain — Peter Foster’s guide to the UK’s economy, trade and investment in a changing world. Sign up hereAre you enjoying Europe Express? Sign up here to have it delivered straight to your inbox every workday at 7am CET and on Saturdays at noon CET. Do tell us what you think, we love to hear from you: [email protected]. Keep up with the latest European stories @FT Europe More

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Japan has signalled it is prepared to hold out for a better deal with US President Donald Trump over trade tariffs, pushing for full removal of his 25 per cent duty on imports of Japanese cars rather than risk a domestic political backlash.Japan, the US’s biggest outside investor and closest ally in Asia, is keen to avoid any souring of relations with Washington and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba initially made a priority of getting to the US negotiating table ahead of other nations.But pressure from business leaders and members of Ishiba’s own Liberal Democratic party to reject any deal that puts the car sector at risk or threatens domestic farmers have forced him to recalculate, officials and analysts said.“Although Japan was very keen to be the first nation to open negotiations with Washington on tariffs, that sense of urgency has now shifted and the emphasis is on ensuring that Japan gets a good deal,” said an official in Tokyo with direct knowledge of the negotiations.Officials said a deal was now unlikely to be reached before elections for Japan’s upper house of parliament that are due by late July and are already expected to be difficult for Ishiba’s highly unpopular administration. Japan’s negotiators, led by economy minister Ryosei Akazawa, have held two meetings with Trump administration officials. A third is planned for next week. Tokyo’s finance minister Katsunobu Kato is also hoping to resume talks with the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the sidelines of a G7 meeting in Canada next week.A Toyota dealership in Virginia. Autos accounted for 81% of Japan’s trade surplus with the US in 2024 More