Abe-Trump Visit : I told you I would wear my striped tie!

by | April 19th, 2018, 05:55:27 | Japan, News, US

Mission UNaccomplished

I haven’t seen the golf scorecard, it may have been the only victory for Abe, who leaves on an empty plane unless he considers Japan not having been named a currency manipulator a success.
They agreed on NK, the abductions, the need to pursue to find a solution but Trump is more interested in his own meeting with Kim than a joint front for now .
Abe was looking for exemptions on metal tariffs, nothing’s been decided. Trump’s victory again as everything’s sent to the negotiation table over US’ trade deficit with Japan.
Nothing either on TPP, actually Trump tweeted he wouldn’t consider rejoining TPP after all, prefers bilateral trade deals, unless he would get a deal US can’t refuse. And that even before his meetings with Abe took place, a pretty humiliating welcome if you ask me to an already battered Abe on the home front in personal and some of his officials property and alleged sex scandals(2 resigned last night).
I was looking for pieces to the JPY puzzle in this meeting, I shall move on. They could ‘ve kept it to a simple phone call….

Why did the JPY move a bit then overnight? Maybe some relief from the silence on the currency front but mainly because of these two lines I reckon:
-Japan Investors Net Buying of Foreign Bonds: +¥797.6B vs -¥594.7B prior week; Foreign Net Buying of Japan Stocks: +¥308.3B vs +¥332.9B prior week
–Aso to attend G20 and IMF meetings later this week . He hasn’t been kept home to reply to awkward questions over his vice finance minister Fukuda, as the man resigned .

We managed to get a look at the exporter offers at 107.50 (high 107.52), EURJPY reached 133. Neutral rangy markets to persist for now in my opinion, JPY crosses may find some bids on dips as global tensions ease off . Watching the USD yield curve developments as there’s quite a bit of nervosity in the markets over the slide into an inverted yield curve. Ref to this Bloomy article

The lines of the joint press conference for the records:
PM Abe:
– Japan will continue to negotiate for its steel and aluminum to be exempted from US tariffs; they do not exert any negative influence on US security.
– Happy to have had frank discussions with Trump
– Has agreed with Trump to start talks on ‘fair, free and reciprocal’ trade.’
– North Korean situation is facing a historic change
– Reiterates maximum pressure should be maintained on North Korea
– Discussed in detail North Korea scenarios with Trump
– Japanese investments in the US have been gaining momentum.
– China President Xi understands very important months ahead.
President Trump:
– Looking forward to meeting with North Korea’s Kim, will be meeting in the coming weeks
– Exploring expediting sale of military equipment to Japan
– Working to reduce trade imbalances and increase US exports
– Committed to pursuing a bilateral trade relationship
– Would much prefer a bilateral trade deal with Japan.
– Hopes in not too distant future to have a trade deal with Japan that’s good for both countries.
– Will do something about trade imbalance with Japan
– Metals tariffs got many countries to the table on trade

K-man
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