Suntory CEO: Tariff plans prompt broader global investment considerations
Suntory’s chairman and CEO, Takeshi Niinami, has warned President Trump that Japanese companies may rethink future investment in the United States.
In a TV interview with Bloomberg, he said that if Trump continues with his tariff plans “it is not going to be very attractive. The US is still a key country, but we have to have a broader portfolio of investment”, he said, pointing to options in India and Indonesia for instance.
The US has scheduled a 24% import tariff on all goods coming from Japan. This has been suspended for 90 days and the Tokyo government has joined a long line at the White House of suitor nations seeking to persuade Trump to drop his imposts.
Niniami said that the tariff scheme is a huge disincentive to invest in the US and that the background could worsen if the US slides into recession. He did not say specifically whether he might reconsider any planned investment in the Jim Beam bourbon facilities in Kentucky.
US recession fears
In the interview, Niinami warned bluntly that consumers are trading down because of the threat of inflation rising and prices in the US being forced up further by the tariff plans.
Consumer confidence has been “waning tremendously,” he said, confirming that the public is trading down.
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“Consumers nowadays are not spending willingly, so they opt for economy items instead of premium products.”
Niinami rejected the idea that Trump’s actions would signal an end to rule-based globalisation and predicted that Japan, China and India would champion free trade in the Asia-Pacific region.
Investing elsewhere
Suntory is making a big drive into the RTD market and has already focused much of its effort in that sphere on Australia, where Suntory Oceania has begun production at its AU$400m manufacturing facility in Queensland.
Asked if the rest of the world would carry the global economy while the largest became protectionist, he replied firmly, “I think so.” This time, a lot of countries have got to understand that the US is not a country that supports free trade and has denounced it… Japan should be the flagbearer of free trade, and we will.”
Niinami also urged Tokyo to deepen trade ties with China, saying that routine commerce — excluding products linked to economic security such as semiconductors — should be encouraged.
“China is our neighbour; the world is intertwined, and we must not forget that fact,” he said.
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