Back in April, I wrote a Morning Jolt entitled “Why Team Trump Is So Gung-Ho About Tariffs.” The title was a little tongue in cheek, because the answer was that different figures within the Trump administration like tariffs for completely different and often directly contradictory reasons.

In short, the Trump administration officials are so gung-ho on the tariffs because they are not a negotiation and also are a negotiation, because they are permanent and also temporary, because they will be a lasting source of new revenue for the government and also a declining source of new revenue for the government, because they’re mirroring the other country’s tariffs and because they’re not mirroring the other country’s tariffs, and because they’ll have the U.S. start making medicines again, make ships again, and make semiconductors again, notwithstanding the fact that the U.S. is already making medicines, ships, and semiconductors.

Now, you can guess the reaction in some quarters. “Oh, Jim! You’re so unfair to the administration. Surely the Trump team knows why they are enacting tariffs, and what concessions they expect from our trading partners in return for lowering them!”

According to the Japanese trade negotiators… no, they don’t!

The presence of three top U.S. negotiators with differing stances on trade is adding a layer of complexity to tariff talks with Japan.

Open disagreements, competition and confusion among Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer have made it hard for the Japanese side to judge the Trump administration’s intentions, according to sources close to the negotiations.

“At one point, the three cabinet officials put the talks with the Japanese side on hold and began debating right in front of them,” said one source.

A real prerequisite to reaching a deal that achieves America’s objectives is the American negotiators knowing what America’s objectives are.

…The responsibilities of Bessent, Lutnick and Greer overlap each other, complicating the tariff talks. Bessent is also responsible for negotiating with China, South Korea and other countries, making scheduling a meeting with him difficult. Bessent was absent during the third meeting with Akazawa.

In addition to the lack of unity among Bessent, Lutnick and Greer, Tokyo is also concerned about the insufficient coordination between cabinet officials and working-level staff.

Tariff negotiations typically involve technical issues being hashed out at the working level, the details being set at the cabinet level, and a final agreement being reached by national leaders.

In the current talks, “the three tiers in the U.S. — the working level, cabinet officials, and the president — are disjointed, and it appears that information is not being shared,” said a senior Japanese economic official. The Japanese side frequently needed to repeat the same things at the working- and cabinet-level talks, the official added.

Trump has the final say on tariffs, but his intentions are unclear. It is difficult for Tokyo to determine what the administration wants and what concessions are necessary to reach a deal.

Now, I can hear someone objecting, of course the Japanese would want to scapegoat the Trump team for why they haven’t reached a deal yet. But the idea that Bessent, Lutnick and Greer disagree among themselves behind closed doors is pretty easy to believe, when they disagree among themselves so publicly.