Donald Trump's insistence that "spoiled" Japan imports more US rice is adding to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's problems ahead of elections that could sink his premiership after less than a year in office.

Trump shared screenshots of letters detailing new tariff rates for over a dozen countries, allowing room for further negotiations before the renewed deadline of Aug. 1.

He was aware about President Donald Trump’s frustration over the imbalance in US-Japan trade relations and offered to boost Japan’s cumulative investment in the United States to $1 trillion. It was more than a symbolic move as Japan is already the biggest foreign investor in the US,

President Donald Trump's decision to impose 25% tariffs on imports from South Korea and Japan is drawing sharp criticism from economists who say the rationale behind the move is fundamentally flawed.

In his new round of tariffs being announced this week, Trump is essentially tethering the entire world economy to his instinctual belief that import taxes will deliver factory jobs and stronger growth in the U.S., rather than the inflation and slowdown predicted by many economists.

The president has already threatened an additional 10% tariff on goods from countries aligning themselves with a bloc of nations that includes China and Russia.

President Donald Trump revealed new higher tariff rates for more than a dozen countries after hitting Japan and South Korea first earlier in the day.