U.S. Travel Commends U.S.-Japan Trade Talks

The White House announced this week that President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe came to an agreement on two new trade deals: the United States-Japan Trade Agreement and the United States-Japan Digital Trade Agreement. While these deals are not yet final, both leaders expressed a desire to see the agreements ratified at the “earliest possible date.”

U.S. Travel applauds the cooperation between the U.S. and Japan: what’s good for trade relations is good for travel, especially in a market as lucrative to the United States as Japan. In 2017, Japan was the second-largest source market for overseas visitation to the U.S. with 3.8 million arrivals. These visitors spent $16.6 billion on goods and services while traveling in the U.S., creating a travel trade surplus of $12 billion.

Without this surplus, the U.S. trade deficit with Japan would have been a staggering 21% higher.

The Japanese market is incredibly important to inbound travel, and its growth should be a top priority. U.S. Travel commends the administration for taking steps to improve America’s trade deals, and Japan for being a reliable trading partner and ally in travel. We look forward to seeing this deal finalized soon.