Trump’s Baffling New Comments On Japan Leave Critics Aghast

President Donald Trump suggested new tariffs on Japan ― but then spaced on the name of the nation’s leader.

Trump told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo he would be sending out letters as his pause on tariffs ends early next month, and cited Japan as an example.

Rather than name Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ― who he met in February at the White House ― Trump appeared to improvise as he described the letter.

“Dear Mr. Japan: Here’s the story,” Trump said. “You’re going to pay a 25% tariff on your cars.”

He said it’s “not fair” that the United States takes “millions and millions” of Japanese cars, while Japan takes comparatively few cars from U.S. automakers.

“They won’t take our cars,” Trump said, and suggested that Japan could fix that deficit with other purchases from the United States, such as oil.

Trump has said in the past that his tariffs are a way to get companies, including overseas companies, to increase production in the United States.

“My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America, and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on Earth,” Trump said in January.

However, the vast majority of Japanese cars sold in the United States are already built in the United States, making them less likely to be impacted by the threat of new tariffs.

But it was the opening of his hypothetical letter to Japanese leaders ― the “Dear Mr. Japan” ― that got his critics fired up on X: