AMERICAS OIL: Johnson Suggests Congress Could Restrain Trump on Tariffs

Reuters reporting, per Chinese state media, that China, Japan, and South Korea have reached “consensus" that the three will "jointly respond to the US tariffs.” All three have lobbied the Trump administration for exceptions from Trump's metals and auto tariffs without success. 

• The report notes that Tokyo and Seoul are, “seeking to import semiconductor raw materials from China," and China is "interested in purchasing chip products from Japan, South Korea”.
• Finbarr Bermingham at SCMP cautions that while the joint statement mentions cooperation on export controls and chips, "There's no detail on there about a joint response to Trump's reciprocal tariffs."
• The Korean Economic Daily noted yesterday that a meeting of trade ministers, “marked the first time that the economic ministers of the three countries sat down to discuss policy cooperation since December 2019 in Beijing."
• South Korea’s trade ministry said in a statement: “The three countries agreed to closely cooperate toward a comprehensive and high-level [Free Trade Agreement] among South Korea, Japan and China, as well as on issues related to multilateral trade systems...”
• Although analysts cited by KED “expressed skepticism” and raised “concerns that working with China may not support trade negotiations with the Trump administration” the meeting hints at a dramatically altered Indo-Pacific multilateral outlook in response to Trump's trade agenda.
• The Biden administration identified the trilateral relationship with Tokyo and Seoul as the linchpin of Washington’s China strategy in the region. Chatham House notes that the new Trump administration’s approach “throws doubt on this important US partnership.”   

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