Japan touts ships expertise and LNG investment, with tariff talks key
Japan will tout its prowess in building ice-breakers, a growing area of need as security concerns in the Arctic region mount, while also offering to help repair U.S. battleships that patrol the Asia-Pacific, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday, as his hand-picked trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa returned to Tokyo following a third round of discussions with U.S. counterparts in Washington.
Akazawa said he hopes to reach an agreement in time for a planned bilateral meeting between Ishiba and U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada next month.
"There were concrete discussions on trade expansion, nontariff measures, and economic security cooperation,' Ishiba said Sunday regarding the latest meeting between Akazawa and his counterparts. "Progress was made in those areas. We plan to press ahead with discussions with the G7 summit in mind.'
Ishiba's comments reflect rising momentum in the negotiations as the U.S. tariffs threaten to drag Japan's economy into a technical recession ahead of a July Upper House election. Prior to Akazawa's latest visit to Washington, Trump initiated a phone call with Ishiba pledging to meet in Canada. Akazawa is expected to visit Washington again later this week to meet Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was absent from meetings last week.
Ishiba continues to emphasize Japan's investment contributions to the U.S. economy as he seeks a reprieve from additional U.S. tariffs. Local media reported that Japan may offer cooperation on an Alaska natural gas project as part of the trade talks, although the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that some doubts remain about the estimated $44 billion costs of the project. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has separately proposed a U.S.-Japan sovereign wealth fund for investments in technology and infrastructure, the Financial Times reported.
Trump stunned the financial market by endorsing a partnership between United States Steel and Japan's Nippon Steel, with details remaining sketchy as to whether this would result in the takeover long sought by Nippon Steel or merely a minority share investment. Akazawa declined to comment on how a major corporate deal might affect the tariff talks, but analysts said it might help.
"This is very, very positive news for the atmosphere of the negotiations, for the level of trust between the two sides. But it still comes down to a game of chicken over the automobiles tariffs,' Kurt Tong, a former senior U.S. diplomat in Asia who's now a managing partner at the Asia Group, said on Bloomberg TV on Monday.
The proposal for setting a timeline by the G7 could work to Japan's advantage in the negotiations as long as Tokyo wins some manner of reprieve on auto tariffs, among its top priorities.
"There is an election coming up later in July, and the Japanese government really needs to have a positive outcome in this negotiation,' said Tong.
As with other nations, Trump has slapped Japan with a 25% levy on autos, steel and aluminum and a 10% across-the-board tariff. What are known as a reciprocal tariff is set to be raised to 24% in early July, barring a deal.
Cars and auto parts comprise around a third of all exports to the U.S. from Japan. The auto industry is a key driver of growth for Japan's economy and employs around 8% of the work force. April trade data saw a drop in auto exports to the U.S., raising the risk of a technical recession for an economy that contracted in the first quarter.
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Japan Today
an hour ago
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Fatal explosion at U.S. Steel's plant raises questions about its future, despite heavy investment
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NHK
2 hours ago
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Japan PM Ishiba welcomes Trump's efforts to end Russia's aggression on Ukraine
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8 hours ago
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European leaders to join Zelenskyy for key meeting with Trump
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They're skeptical that a peace agreement can be rapidly reached, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin even wants one. Von der Leyen said in a post on X that she'll host Zelenskyy in Brussels on Sunday afternoon before joining him, Trump and other European leaders at the White House meeting. The talks will include, among other things, security guarantees, territorial issues, and continued support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression, according to a German statement. It will be Zelenskyy's first visit in the White House since February, when his Oval Office encounter with Trump turned into a public shouting match and led to U.S. briefly pausing military aid to Ukraine. U.S. President Donald Trump berates Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington in February. | Doug Mills / The New York Times While the two leaders patched up their relationship since then, the show of support from European leaders aims to help the Ukrainian president as he comes under growing pressure to cede some of the land in return for a vague promise of peace. Trump told European leaders on a call Saturday, following his talks with Putin in Alaska, that he was prepared to contribute to security guarantees with Europe so long as it didn't involve NATO. The U.S. president suggested Putin would be OK with such an arrangement, people familiar with the matter said. He also indicated he could be looking to organize a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders as early as within a week, the people said. Zelenskyy has said repeatedly that he's willing to meet Putin. 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Russia would also halt advancing its claims over the parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions it doesn't now control, effectively freezing the battle lines there. The Kremlin could also potentially withdraw troops from other regions such as Sumy and Kharkiv in Ukraine's northeast, areas near the Russian border where Kremlin forces control only small pockets of land. According to an assessment by the U.K. Defense Ministry, it would take Russia more than four years to fully occupy the four Ukrainian regions it laid claim to in 2022. That would come at a cost of nearly 2 million additional Russian casualties based on current battlefield advances, the ministry said on X. While maintaining that any territorial decisions are for Zelenskyy to make, Trump has repeatedly signaled that a peace agreement would include land swaps, and has urged the Ukrainian president to make a deal. Many European officials are skeptical that a detailed agreement can be reached quickly. Russia's rejection of repeated calls for a ceasefire "complicates the situation,' Zelenskyy said in a social media post late Saturday. "If they lack the will to carry out a simple order to stop the strikes, it may take a lot of effort to get Russia to have the will to implement far greater — peaceful coexistence with its neighbors for decades.'
