Photo/Illutration At Indonesian markets, bargaining skills are essential to get the best price. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Through negotiations with its trading partners, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration recently agreed to reduce its initially announced “reciprocal tariffs” on imports from Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.

For Vietnam, the cut is from 46 percent to 20 percent; for the Philippines, from 20 percent to 19 percent; and for Indonesia, from 32 percent to 19 percent.

I wonder how Washington settled on these numbers and what circumstances or negotiating terms could have been at play.

When I learned about the tariff reduction on Indonesian imports, I thought about a local journalist who took me under his wing when I was stationed in Jakarta.

“P” (not his real name) was a pure genius at the art of haggling—a skill that’s indispensable to survival there.

When I shopped in an open-air market or shared a taxi with him, P often taught me by example. And he would explain the secret of successful bargaining, reminding me, “You Japanese are pretty terrible at it.”

For instance, if I wanted to pay only 600 yen ($4.11) for an item that was priced at 1,000 yen, I should offer 300 yen to the seller—half the price of what I’m willing to pay.

Naturally, the seller would balk. “How about 800 yen,” he might suggest. And my counter-offer should be half that—400 yen.

After that, P explained, some minor back-and-forth should be all that’s needed for me to score the item at my desired price point.

I know I can’t possibly compare that sort of bargaining and international trade negotiations, but I still wonder how the latest Japan-U.S. tariff talks changed the numbers.

Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s top tariff negotiator who traveled to Washington eight times and got the U.S. tariff on Japanese imports knocked down from 25 percent to 15 percent, boasted his “100 percent gate-crashing success rate.”

That means while he flew to the United States without appointments for talks with his counterparts many of the eight times, he succeeded in holding talks with them every time. 

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba stressed the tariff as “the lowest among nations with a trade surplus with the United States.” Still, nothing changes the fact that this is a stiff tariff.

Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party took a drubbing in the July 20 Upper House election. And the conclusion of the tariff talks with Washington means that his main justification for not stepping down has just disappeared.

Is it now a matter of time before he bows out?

Regarding the art of bargaining, P also advised, “Don’t get greedy. Don’t force your partner.”

That’s something I really wish I could tell Trump, for whom everything is a business deal tied to profit and loss.

—The Asahi Shimbun, July 24

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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