Trump hammers away at Japan for a third day, threatening 35% duties

Japan Times

6 hours ago

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday continued to unload on Japan for a third straight day, this time threatening to take tariffs on Japanese goods to as high as 35%.
'We've dealt with Japan. I'm not sure if we're going to make a deal. I doubt it with Japan. They're very tough. You have to understand they're very spoiled,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
As with his earlier broadsides — the first in a Fox News interview Sunday and the second via Truth Social on Monday — the president complained about how little American rice and how few American cars Japan imported, and went on to say that he might simply end negotiations and set a duty rate for Japanese products.
'What I'm going to do is I'll write them a letter saying, 'We thank you very much and we know you can't do the kind of things that we need. And therefore you'll pay 30%, 35% or whatever the number is that we determined,'' Trump said.
Japan is currently subject to a 25% additional tariff on vehicles and auto parts and 50% on steel and aluminum. On most other products, the United States charges a 10% "reciprocal" tariff that could rise to 24% if no deal is struck by July 9.
'It's going to be essentially 'Congratulations, and it's going to be an honor to allow you to go and do business in the United States of America,'' Trump went on. 'Because it really is an honor to be able to do that. But we never viewed it that way in this country.'
In April, Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator, met with Trump in the Oval Office , wore a red "Make America Great Again" cap and gave the president two thumbs-up. Japan had been fast-tracked, the U.S said.
Last Friday, in Washington for his seventh round of tariff talks , Akazawa had a fruitless 65-minute discussion with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — plus two short follow-up phone calls — and left town empty-handed.
That's when Trump's three days of commentary on Japan and tariffs began.
In Tokyo, Trump's recent statements have been met with silence. Akazawa declined to say anything on Monday and Tuesday about the remarks, and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiko Aoki had no comment on Wednesday.
TV Asahi reported on Wednesday that Akazawa may return to Washington this weekend for an eighth round of talks.
Trump's contentious remarks about Japan signal that the U.S. is losing patience after months of unproductive talks, and is now trying to force Japan to make concessions to claim a win. Japan should keep dragging out the talks and avoid making major compromises , observers said.
'The Trump administration is clearly hitting a wall on this issue and on many others,' said Ryo Sahashi, a professor at the University of Tokyo's Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, in an interview Tuesday. 'From the U.S. side, Japan probably just looks like it's sitting there, and no one can tell what it's really thinking. And that's fine. It's better to drag this out.'
In a Fox News interview Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was appointed by Trump to lead negotiations with Japan, said that a deal with Japan might not happen anytime soon.
'We are rebalancing the world's trading system and making it fairer to the American people. And if the deal is not fair for the American people, President Trump has told us not to take it,' he said in reply to a question on the current situation with Japan.
U.S. tariff talks have not been progressing as hoped. So far, the U.S. has only managed to strike a deal with the United Kingdom , a country that runs a trade deficit with the U.S.
The U.S. claimed progress in the U.S.-China talks, "saying something about rare earths being a 'big deal,' but nobody really sees it that way,' Sahashi said. 'Overall, things just aren't going well.'
'But even so, Japan can't afford to flinch. If we get intimidated by their threats, we lose.'
Takahide Kiuchi, executive economist at Nomura Research Institute, pointed out the lack of progress in the U.S. tariff talks with most countries. Given potential consequences, the chances that the U.S. would suddenly notify Japan alone of higher-rate tariffs seem low, he wrote in a Wednesday report.
'After all, Japan has never even hinted at retaliatory sanctions and is seen as a compliant partner,' Kiuchi wrote. 'The Trump administration may find it difficult to take a hard-line approach using tariffs so easily. In the end, it would likely be constrained by market forces.'
"Japan is not going to walk away from the table, but that initial eagerness to strike a deal quickly — that feeling Japan had at the very beginning, when it jumped in expecting to secure relatively favorable terms — that sentiment has now significantly diminished,' Sahashi said.
'It's not falling apart. It's more like making sure it doesn't look like it's falling apart — that's kind of Japan's specialty,' Sahashi added. 'You can't just 'boldly exit' trade negotiations."