Japan will invest over half a trillion dollars into the United States in “perhaps the largest Deal ever made,” President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday.

The deal followed Japan’s chief trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa coming to Washington this week to meet with top administration officials. Akazawa reportedly joined Trump at the White House shortly before the president announced the agreement via a post on Truth Social.

“We just completed a massive Deal with Japan, perhaps the largest Deal ever made. Japan will invest, at my direction, $550 Billion Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90% of the Profits,” said Trump. “This Deal will create Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs — There has never been anything like it.”

“Perhaps most importantly, Japan will open their Country to Trade including Cars and Trucks, Rice and certain other Agricultural Products, and other things. Japan will pay Reciprocal Tariffs to the United States of 15%,” he continued. “This is a very exciting time for the United States of America, and especially for the fact that we will continue to always have a great relationship with the Country of Japan. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Negotiators for the United States and Japan rushed to work out an agreement ahead of an August 1 deadline when Trump set punishing tariffs to take effect on Japanese imports.

The rough agreement comes at a delicate moment for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who recently suffered a severe electoral setback in which his party lost control of the Japanese parliament’s upper house. Ishiba’s party lost the parliament’s lower house in an October vote, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Ishiba held out on striking a deal with Trump, betting that a tough stance on trade negotiations with the United States would earn support from Japanese voters. Polls showed that voters were more concerned with the state of inflation and immigration than on trade negotiations with the United States, however. The electoral loss could cost Ishiba his prime ministership.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled that the United States was willing to slow walk trade negotiations despite the tight deadline ahead of Tuesday’s agreement.

“Our priorities are not the internal workings of the Japanese government. Our priorities are getting the best deal for the American people,” Bessent told CNBC.

“If we somehow boomerang back to the August 1 tariffs, I would think that a higher tariff level will put more pressure on those countries to come with better agreements,” he said.

Joy Behar claimed on Tuesday that late-night comedian Stephen Colbert had his show canceled because “King” President Donald Trump was “coming for the comedians” and not allowing the “court jesters” to do their jobs.

Referencing medieval tradition — specifically, the notion that only the court jester was allowed to mock the king and for that reason had an obligation to do so — Behar suggested that Colbert’s show was getting the axe because Trump did not like being mocked.

WATCH:

Ignoring how he lost $40 million, Joy Behar falsely claims Stephen Colbert lost his job (in 10 months) because “King” Trump is coming for “the court jester[s].” pic.twitter.com/TUS5ZQgdQX

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 22, 2025

Cohost Sunny Hostin complained that Colbert’s dismissal — which appears to have been based on net losses due to insufficient ad revenue — amounted to “the dismantling of our democracy, This is the dismantling of our Constitution.”

“If the comedians are being attacked, then that means our Constitution is being dismantled,” Hostin continued, ignoring the financial issues in play and suggesting that Colbert had been canceled solely because he was vocally opposed to Trump. “What are we going to do as a country? We must protect our Constitution and we must protect our democracy. This is bigger than just the cancellation of a television show.”

WATCH:

Sara Haines admits that “linier TV” is on a downward slope and advertisers are not dropping the same type of money they used to as they move to digital platforms.
She wonders: “Even when you take Stephen Colbert out of the 20 million [salary] where do you come up with the other… pic.twitter.com/kJAh0rSgMh

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 22, 2025

Cohost Sara Haines conceded that there could be financial reasons for the decision, noting that advertisers were not putting up the same kind of cash they used to as streaming platforms have taken up some of the bandwidth.

Hostin pushed back, saying that Colbert had raked in some $60 million in ad buys — but left out the fact that his show cost around $100 million to produce, resulting in a $40 million loss.

WATCH:

Whoopi says The View supports Colbert and they have his back.
Despite the fact it was announced that The Late Show would be no more, she insists that “I’m not seeing that the Late Show is gone. I don’t feel like it’s gone.”
She refused to say why she thought that, proclaiming… pic.twitter.com/puZW9V37d4

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 22, 2025

Whoopi Goldberg weighed in then, saying that no matter what happened, she would stand with Colbert. “I’m not seeing that the Late Show is gone. I don’t feel like it’s gone.”