Japan’s Akazawa cancels trip over planned White House order to buy US rice; Tokyo protests that president can’t tell Japanese government agencies what to do.

>The Japanese side strongly objected, multiple government officials here told Nikkei on Friday. Lead tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa, minister of state for economic and fiscal policy, canceled the trip, which would have begun Thursday. Negotiations between the two countries continue.

>The American side also told Japan that it was considering including a reduction in Japanese tariffs on agricultural products in the order. An executive order is a presidential directive to U.S. government agencies, and Japan strongly protested that including actions to be undertaken by the Japanese government constituted interference in internal affairs, according to Japanese officials. In addition, **an agreement reached in July does not make Japan reduce its own tariffs**.

>As part of the now-canceled visit, Akazawa had been slated to sign a joint document on the $550 billion in investment pledged by Japan under the tariff agreement, likely laying out a framework for the investment. **The document would have been nonbinding**, and there are no major differences between the two sides on the contents, according to a Japanese government source.

>There are **discrepancies** in how the two sides have described the investment. Trump has claimed that the $550 billion will be invested at his direction, while the Japanese side has said it is a framework involving investment, loans and loan guarantees by state-backed institutions. A joint document would likely clear up inconsistencies.

I would say there is almost no consensus, if you ask me.

It’s not insane to say “I’m not going to sign a deal with someone on the contingency that they’ll figure out what the terms of the deal are later.”