Japan hopes for special treatment as Trump hints at auto tariff hike
KYODO NEWS - 7 hours ago - 14:53 | All, World, Japan
Japan expects to be treated differently to other countries once it clinches a deal with the United States on tariffs, Tokyo's top negotiator said Friday, after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled a further rise in import levies on cars.
"Once bilateral negotiations are finalized, I think Japan will be given special treatment separate from the rule that applies to most countries," Ryosei Akazawa said at Tokyo's Haneda airport prior to his departure for the United States for the sixth round of ministerial-level tariff negotiations.
Trump said Thursday he may raise tariffs on auto imports in the near future in a bid to attract more investment in American manufacturing. He also asserted that all manufacturing in the United States is "surging," thanks to the 25 percent tariffs on cars and auto parts his administration imposed earlier this year.
Another hike in U.S. tariffs on cars would further hurt Japan's mainstay automotive industry.
Akazawa will be visiting Washington for the fourth time in as many weeks, aiming to make progress in the talks ahead of an envisioned meeting between Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Trump on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada early next week.
Part of the focus of the negotiations has been on whether Tokyo can secure concessions on auto tariffs.
Japan has also called for the removal of other additional sector-based tariffs as well as reciprocal tariffs, while Trump is seeking to reduce his country's massive trade deficit with Japan.
Related coverage:
Japan PM hopes for progress in U.S. tariff talks, in no rush for deal
Bessent says 90-day tariff pause could be extended for key partners
Japan, U.S. eye Ishiba-Trump summit in Canada on G7 margins
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
18 minutes ago
- Japan Today
Trump's tariffs could pay for his tax cuts -- but it likely wouldn't be much of a bargain
By PAUL WISEMAN Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., pauses in the door of his office to answer questions from reporters about his strategy to advance President Donald Trump's spending and tax bill, at the Capitol in Washington. The tax cuts in President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act would likely gouge a hole in the federal budget. The president has a patch handy, though: his sweeping import taxes — tariffs. The Congressional Budget Office, the government's nonpartisan arbiter of tax and spending matters, says the One Big Beautiful Bill, passed by the House last month and now under consideration in the Senate, would increase federal budget deficits by $2.4 trillion over the next decade. That is because its tax cuts would drain the government's coffers faster than its spending cuts would save money. By bringing in revenue for the Treasury, on the other hand, the tariffs that Trump announced through May 13 — including his so-called reciprocal levies of up to 50% on countries with which the United States has a trade deficit — would offset the budget impact of the tax-cut bill and reduce deficits over the next decade by $2.5 trillion. So it's basically a wash. That's the budget math anyway. The real answer is more complicated. Actually using tariffs to finance a big chunk of the federal government would be a painful and perilous undertaking, budget wonks say. 'It's a very dangerous way to try to raise revenue,' said Kent Smetters of the University of Pennsylvania's Penn Wharton Budget Model, who served in President George W. Bush's Treasury Department. Trump has long advocated tariffs as an economic elixir. He says they can protect American industries, bring factories back to the United States, give him leverage to win concessions over foreign governments — and raise a lot of money. He's even suggested that they could replace the federal income tax, which now brings in about half of federal revenue. 'It's possible we'll do a complete tax cut,'' he told reporters in April. 'I think the tariffs will be enough to cut all of the income tax.'' Economists and budget analysts do not share the president's enthusiasm for using tariffs to finance the government or to replace other taxes. 'It's a really bad trade,'' said Erica York, the Tax Foundation's vice president of federal tax policy. 'It's perhaps the dumbest tax reform you could design.'' For one thing, Trump's tariffs are an unstable source of revenue. He bypassed Congress and imposed his biggest import tax hikes through executive orders. That means a future president could simply reverse them. 'Or political whims in Congress could change, and they could decide, 'Hey, we're going revoke this authority because we don't think it's a good thing that the president can just unilaterally impose a $2 trillion tax hike,' '' York said. Or the courts could kill his tariffs before Congress or future presidents do. A federal court in New York has already struck down the centerpiece of his tariff program — the reciprocal and other levies he announced on what he called 'Liberation Day'' April 2 — saying he'd overstepped his authority. An appeals court has allowed the government to keep collecting the levies while the legal challenge winds its way through the court system. Economists also say that tariffs damage the economy. They are a tax on foreign products, paid by importers in the United States and usually passed along to their customers via higher prices. They raise costs for U.S. manufacturers that rely on imported raw materials, components and equipment, making them less competitive than foreign rivals that don't have to pay Trump's tariffs. Tariffs also invite retaliatory taxes on U.S. exports by foreign countries. Indeed, the European Union this week threatened 'countermeasures'' against Trump's unexpected move to raise his tariff on foreign steel and aluminum to 50%. 'You're not just getting the effect of a tax on the U.S. economy,' York said. 'You're also getting the effect of foreign taxes on U.S. exports.'' She said the tariffs will basically wipe out all economic benefits from the One Big Beautiful Bill's tax cuts. Smetters at the Penn Wharton Budget Model said that tariffs also isolate the United States and discourage foreigners from investing in its economy. Foreigners see U.S. Treasurys as a super-safe investment and now own about 30% of the federal government's debt. If they cut back, the federal government would have to pay higher interest rates on Treasury debt to attract a smaller number of potential investors domestically. Higher borrowing costs and reduced investment would wallop the economy, making tariffs the most economically destructive tax available, Smetters said — more than twice as costly in reduced economic growth and wages as what he sees as the next-most damaging: the tax on corporate earnings. Tariffs also hit the poor hardest. They end up being a tax on consumers, and the poor spend more of their income than wealthier people do. Even without the tariffs, the One Big Beautiful Bill slams the poorest because it makes deep cuts to federal food programs and to Medicaid, which provides health care to low-income Americans. After the bill's tax and spending cuts, an analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model found, the poorest fifth of American households earning less than $17,000 a year would see their incomes drop by $820 next year. The richest 0.1% earning more than $4.3 million a year would come out ahead by $390,070 in 2026. 'If you layer a regressive tax increase like tariffs on top of that, you make a lot of low- and middle-income households substantially worse off,'' said the Tax Foundation's York. Overall, she said, tariffs are 'a very unreliable source of revenue for the legal reasons, the political reasons as well as the economic reasons. They're a very, very inefficient way to raise revenue. If you raise a dollar of a revenue with tariffs, that's going to cause a lot more economic harm than raising revenue any other way.'' © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Kyodo News
28 minutes ago
- Kyodo News
Iran retaliates against Israel with missile attacks
KYODO NEWS - 9 minutes ago - 14:35 | All, World Iran launched a missile attack against Israel on Friday, Iranian state TV reported, in retaliation for airstrikes on various locations including facilities related to Tehran's nuclear program. Israel's military said on the X social media platform that "Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles toward Israel in the past hours," with video showing flashes over Tel Aviv. Israeli media reported that the Iranian counterstrike had left one dead and more than 60 people injured. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired 100 hypersonic missiles at Israel, according to the state broadcaster. Speaking at a U.N. Security Council meeting, Iranian envoy Amir Saeid Iravani accused the United States of supporting the Israeli military attack, saying Washington's complicity was "beyond doubt." "We will not forget that our people lost their lives as a result of the Israeli attacks with American weapons. These actions amount to a declaration of war." Iran's military also claimed to have shot down two Israeli fighter jets, according to state television. A blast also occurred early Saturday at Tehran's Mehrabad airport, according to local reports. Related coverage: Israel makes "preemptive" strikes on Iran nuclear, military targets Japan condemns Israel attack on Iran, vows G7 unity to ease tensions
38 minutes ago
Akazawa Vows to Work toward Japan-U.S. Trade Agreement
News from Japan Society Jun 14, 2025 14:25 (JST) Washington, June 13 (Jiji Press)--Japanese trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said Friday that he will continue to work vigorously to allow Japanese and U.S. leaders to reach a trade agreement shortly. "We had very in-depth discussions," Akazawa, economic revitalization minister, told reporters after his sixth round of tariff talks with U.S. officials in Washington. He said that the two sides have explored the possibility that Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump will reach an agreement on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Canada next week. Akazawa met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for some 70 minutes and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for about 45 minutes. The latest round took place "in a very important timing" just before a meeting between the two countries' leaders, Akazawa said. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
