Akazawa Calls Latest U.S. Trade Talks ‘Deep,' Offers No Prediction on Any Imminent Outcome

Yomiuri Shimbun

12 hours ago

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa speaks to reporters after his sixth talks with U.S officials over tariffs in Washington on Friday.
Economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa and U.S. government officials held their sixth ministerial negotiation talks on Friday in Washington over the tariff measures of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
After the meeting, Akazawa told reporters, 'We held very deep discussions to search for a possibility of reaching an agreement.'
The Japan-U.S. ministerial talks have been held for four consecutive weeks. Akazawa held talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick for about 70 minutes and with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for about 45 minutes, one after another.
After the talks, Akazawa did not clearly mention a possibility of reaching an agreement during Group of Seven summit to be held from Sunday to Tuesday in Canada. A Japan-U.S. summit is scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the G7 summit.
He briefly said, 'I want to refrain from making any predictions.
So far, the Japanese government has repeatedly demanded that all U.S. 'reciprocal tariffs' on automobiles, steel and aluminum exports from Japan be abolished.
Akazawa avoided clearly answering a question over whether he reiterated the demand in the latest talks.
In the preceding talks, the Japanese side proposed to increase imports of U.S. agricultural products and reexamine 'non-tariff trade barriers' against U.S. cars in line with requests from the Trump administration.
The Japanese government is also considering collaborations on strengthening supply chains for rare earths and semiconductors.
In the evening on Friday, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba held telephone talks with Trump for about 20 minutes and agreed to hold an in-person meeting separately from the G7 summit.
Attention will focus on whether the leaders will be able to reach an agreement based on discussions in the ministerial talks.
Rare earth magnets
The government has begun internal discussions on proposing cooperation with the United States to strengthen supply chains for powerful magnets made with rare earths in the ongoing Japan-U.S. trade negotiations over the Trump administration's tariff policy, according to Japanese government sources.
China holds a major share of the market for high-performance magnets.
The government expects that Japan and the United States will promote the building of supply chains which will not rely on China and aim to make progress in the tariff talks, which are entering a decisive phase.
Magnets made with rare earths are essential for manufacturing motors of electric vehicles and devices used in missiles.
In the case of neodymium magnets, a typical product of the kind, China holds more than an 80% share of *global production. Japan, which has high-level manufacturing technologies, holds a 15% share.
The United States is struggling to find ways to deal with China's restrictions on exports of rare earths.
The Japanese government aims to show a stance of contributing to U.S. manufacturing industries in fields in which Japanese manufacturers have high competitiveness.
In doing so, the government wants to draw concessions from the United States on tariff issues, such as the 25% additional tariff on Japanese-made cars, as automobile manufacturing is Japan's core industry.