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Comment by akudha | Hacker News Reader

insisted on having everything in writing

Just curious, how would this help with anything, other than documentation purposes?

Paper trail stuff. But more importantly, when the first set of executive orders reducing tariffs rates went out, it conveniently mentioned Japanese investments but did not include tariff reductions for Japanese goods.

So the Japanese government pointed at the written agreement and told the trump admin to get their shit together. A few days later, the tariff reductions on Japanese goods was hastily added on.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/business/japan-tariffs-us...

https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/15953967

I went and got some articles mentioning this mess.

Paper trail, to be referenced later, so TFG can't be all "huh, never said that, never agreed to that" etc. etc.

and then what? Trump put specific numbers about trade balance on paper with China during previous trade war, which China just ignored.

1. "Specific numbers about trade balance' isn't a negotiation term. It might be a prior that feeds into your position in negotiation, but it's not an outcome.

2. He lies when his lips move. When you're dealing with a pathological liar, there's no reason to believe anything he says that paints him in a good light - until it's been independently confirmed.

I don’t understand why you think it would stop that, given how comprehensive a record of self-contradiction he already has.

Maybe more in that it gives the Japanese an easy out to change terms when America inevitably breaks the deal.

True, but the Japanese government is accountable to Japanese voters and their business community. If they see Trump reneging on or twisting an agreement they'll be more likely to blame Trump than the LDP. He's not popular there nowadays except among Sanseito members.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/business/japan-tariffs-us...

https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/15953967

Well, having the paper agreement certainly helped last time. (A month ago.)

There's also a Language barrier. So making sure there is a written agreement ensures that both sides understand what was agreed upon.

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