Trump’s Trade Gambit: A Web of Deals With Shocking Lack of Transparency

Behind the curtain of Trump's 'new era' trade pacts lies a troubling void—details remain locked away like a hedge fund's fee structure.

The Opaque Playbook

Deals are signed, hands shaken, but the fine print? Buried deeper than a Bitcoin whitepaper in 2010. Markets cheer while analysts scramble for scraps of clarity.

Smoke and Mirrors Economics

Flashy announcements mask the absence of concrete terms—classic political theater meets Wall Street's 'trust us, we're experts' schtick.

One thing's certain: when transparency gets traded away, someone's always left holding the bag (usually retail investors).

A series of disputes over sectoral tariffs

Sector-specific tariffs that Trump is also in the process of enacting on key industries have been a key point of contention, from how existing auto tariffs will overlap to forthcoming duties on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

On the semiconductor front, Trump paired his Wednesday enactment of "reciprocal" tariffs with the floating of a plan for 100% tariffs "on all chips and semiconductors coming into the United States."

Within hours, trade officials in the European Union and South Korea followed up with an announcement that they WOULD instead be exempt because of their deals.

The dynamic had also been in evidence on pharmaceuticals, where Trump has also promised triple-digit rates.

Left unclear is how these forthcoming duties — set to be levied under separate national security tariff powers in Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 — will impact countries that have struck deals, if at all.

Even a WHITE House fact sheet, despite Trump's comments, says that "the European Union will pay the United States a tariff rate of 15%, including on autos and auto parts, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors."

Another point of contention this week is auto tariffs, which are already facing these so-called 232 tariffs of 25%.

The terms of recent deals apparently include lowering those rates to 15% for the European Union, Japan, and South Korea, but this has not been enacted yet.

That fact led Japan's top trade official to travel to Washington in recent days to see why the currently verbal agreement on autos hadn't been enacted.

Ryosei Akazawa met with Trump's team and told reporters Thursday that he'd received assurances that the situation would soon be remedied.

But there remains no official comment from the US side on when action, which would likely require executive action from the president, will be forthcoming.

Read more: 5 ways to tariff-proof your finances

Additional confusion around foreign investment deals

The confusion has perhaps been most noticeable around agreements for increased foreign investment — $600 billion in potential money from Europe, $550 billion from Japan, and $350 billion from South Korea — which the White House has touted as key elements of these respective agreements.

These varied investment promises have been backed up by only the sketchiest details and have taken different shapes between different countries.

The Europeans say their $600 billion is simply a reflection of companies that "have expressed interest."

Meanwhile, the South Korean and Japanese agreements have been sketched out as more akin to a fund to help spur private investments with additional financing resources. The formal White House fact sheet describes the Japanese agreement as a "Japanese/USA investment vehicle."

But Trump has again and again — including Tuesday on CNBC — described it very differently.

"I got a signing bonus from Japan of $550 billion," he said of that deal, adding, "It's our money to invest as we like."

He was then pressed on Europe and the lack of details there and shot back, "Well, there are no details: The details are $600 billion to invest in anything I want."

The president then reiterated, as he often does, that he plans to enforce these agreements through the constant threat of raising tariffs again.

That got a response from Akazawa, the Japanese trade negotiator who was already in Washington over auto issues, who reportedly offered a very different description of the plan to reporters as "a commitment to invest in the US where there are benefits for Japan as well."

He added: "We can't cooperate on anything that does not benefit Japan."

Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.

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