Asahi reported online on the results of its survey of 100 major local companies, saying 59 of them positively appraised the U.S.-Japan trade agreements. While calling the pacts “a product of compromise,” President Oshima of NGK Insulators noted Prime Minister Abe “did not lose to President Trump in cutting a deal.” A quarter of the respondents were noncommittal, while five firms, including an auto-related corporation, were negative about the accords. The survey also found that half of the polled enterprises said business had been affected by the U.S.-China trade friction and growing protectionism around the world.

In a related development, Nikkei and NHK said the Upper House Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee passed two bills on the U.S.-Japan trade agreements, projecting they will be enacted during a plenary session of the chamber tomorrow.