United States President Donald Trump has announced that he has struck a “massive” trade deal with Japan following months of fraught negotiations.

Under the agreement announced on Tuesday, the US will impose a 15 percent tariff on Japanese exports and Japan will invest $550bn in the US, Trump said.

“We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits.”

Japan will also open up to US exports of cars, rice and certain agricultural products, Trump said, adding that the deal would create “hundreds of thousands of jobs”.

“There has never been anything like it,” he wrote.

Japan was facing a 25 percent tariff if Washington and Tokyo could not reach a deal by an August 1 deadline set by Trump.

Until now, Japanese exports have been subject to a baseline US tariff of 10 percent.

Trump made no mention of his 25 percent tariff on automobiles or 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium, key sticking points in the months-long trade negotiations between Washington and Tokyo, but Japan’s public broadcaster NHK on Wednesday reported that the rate on auto exports would be set at 15 percent.

The Japanese government did not immediately provide confirmation of the deal.

Japanese stocks rose following Trump’s announcement, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 up about 1.8 percent in early trading.

More to follow…