Trump's steel tariff hike not raised in Japan-US talks: negotiator
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's chief tariff negotiator said Sunday that his U.S. counterpart had not touched on President Donald Trump's decision to double tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50 percent during their talks in Washington late last week.
Trump's announcement came on social media on Friday, the same day that Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's minister in charge of economic policy, met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other officials for the fourth round of bilateral tariff negotiations.
After returning to Tokyo, Akazawa, a close aide to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, told reporters at Haneda airport that the Japanese government would "closely watch the specific details of the measures that will be revealed in the future" by the United States.
Regarding the plan by Nippon Steel Corp. to acquire United States Steel Corp., Akazawa said, "We are looking forward to a very optimistic announcement" from the Trump administration.
Japan and the United States are making arrangements to hold a meeting between Ishiba and Trump on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada in mid-June after a fifth round of tariff talks, Akazawa said.
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