Japan, US agree tariff talks making progress toward deal

The Mainichi

2 days ago

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- Japan's chief tariff negotiator said Friday that he and U.S. Cabinet members agreed in their talks that they are making progress toward a potential tariff deal as early as next month.
After a meeting in Washington with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's minister in charge of economic revitalization, told reporters that they plan to hold another round of negotiations before a Group of Seven summit in mid-June.
Akazawa noted, however, that Tokyo's stance to demand the United States remove all its additional tariffs on Japanese imports has not changed, and he urged them to do so during the latest meeting, which lasted more than two hours.
"If that can be met, we may be able to agree, but if not, it will be difficult to reach an agreement," Akazawa said. He refused to disclose how their negotiations are making progress or in which areas.
According to the Treasury Department, Bessent highlighted to Akazawa the importance of boosting investment and working together to deal with economic security issues.
Bessent also reaffirmed the "strong bilateral relationship" between the two countries, the department said.
On the eve of the talks, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump by phone, telling reporters afterward that each side was able to gain a better understanding of the views held by the other.
Ishiba, however, said Japan's position on building a win-win relationship has not changed and it is necessary to achieve the goal by increasing his country's investment in the United States, rather than using tariffs.
Akazawa was previously in Washington just a week ago, when he met separately with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Lutnick, but not with Bessent.
The Japanese and U.S. leaders are expected to hold talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada.
Akazawa's team has presented a set of proposals to the Trump administration since the first round of the bilateral ministerial talks kicked off in mid-April.
The package includes more purchases of U.S. corn and soybeans to help counteract the decline of its exports of the two crops to China amid trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, officials familiar with the negotiations said.
It also contains Japan's readiness to cooperate in resurrecting the shipbuilding capacity of the United States, a goal Trump has vowed to attain amid China's increasing dominance of the industry, according to the officials.
In return, Akazawa has persistently asked the Trump administration to eliminate the new tariffs it imposed on Japanese imports. He did the same Friday in his fourth round of talks with the United States.
In early May, Akazawa and the U.S. Cabinet members agreed to accelerate the pace of their tariff talks from the latter half of the month with the aim of striking an agreement that will be beneficial for both Japan and the United States.
Under Trump's so-called reciprocal tariff regime, announced April 2, Japan faces a country-specific tariff of 14 percent for a total rate of 24 percent.
Along with other countries, Japan has been hit by the Trump administration's additional 25 percent tariff on automobiles and other sector-based levies implemented on national security grounds, on top of the baseline duty of 10 percent that is part of its reciprocal scheme.