The new U.S.-Japan trade deal lowers tariffs and strengthens economic ties, helping challenge China's regional aggression and instability.

View PDF After more than three months of formal negotiations and many more months of speculation about the Trump administration’s trade and economic policy toward Japan, Washington and Tokyo have agreed to a trade deal.

The White House factsheet on the trade deal mentions that Japan will also buy 100 Boeing Co. planes as well as US defense equipment worth additional billions of dollars annually. Akazawa said both these pledges were based on existing plans by Japanese airlines and the government, respectively.