CHICAGO/TOKYO -- Japanese companies have markedly ramped up U.S. investment since President Donald Trump took office, especially in states favoring Trump's Republican Party, as Tokyo tries to cultivate the Americans before trade negotiations.
Trump's steady drumbeat of complaints about the trade deficit with Japan seems to have prompted a response. Japanese foreign direct investment in the U.S. grew more than $50 billion in 2017 -- the president's first year in office -- to $469 billion, the largest annual rise on record, U.S. Commerce Department data shows.
