Economies such as the UK, India, Japan and the EU raced to hammer out agreements, but the blanket rate has left them wondering where they stand

“America is WINNING again,” Donald Trump declared last week, unveiling the first batch of Japanese-backed projects under a mooted $550bn investment surge into the US as part of his trade pact with Tokyo.

After the US president tore up the global economic order in 2025, Japan was one among the countries scrambling to strike a deal. They pledged to dramatically increase investment in the US in exchange for lower US tariffs on Japanese exports.