Japan to voice concern over US trade deal inconsistency, PM Ishiba says
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday (Apr 21) Tokyo has no plan to terminate a trade deal struck with the US in 2019, but will keep voicing "grave concern" over inconsistency between the deal and President Donald Trump's latest automobile tariffs.
Japan PM Shigeru Ishiba reaffirms commitment to the US Japan trade deal 2019 while expressing "grave concern" over Trump’s auto tariffs, citing inconsistency with the trade agreement. Talks on tariffs, currency rates underway amid tense trade relations.
During Trump's first term as president, the US and Japan signed a bilateral trade deal in 2019 that cut tariffs on US farm goods, Japanese machine tools and other products while staving off the threat of higher US car duties.
Although the agreement did not cover automobile trade, then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he had received assurances from Trump that the US would not impose "Section 232"
Japan, however, was not exempted from Trump's latest 25 per cent tariff slapped on all automobile imports in the United States.
"Japan has grave concern over the consistency" with regards to the latest US automobile tariffs and the 2019 bilateral trade deal, Ishiba told parliament.
"We will continue to convey our stance (to the US) from this standpoint," Ishiba said, although he said Japan has no plan to terminate the 2019 agreement altogether.
Japan's top trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, visited Washington last week to kick off bilateral trade talks with the US, which will likely include discussions on non-tariff barriers and the thorny topic of exchange rates.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato plans to visit Washington later this week, where he is expected to meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for discussions on currency rates.
The dollar hit a seven-month low of 140.615 yen (US$1) on Monday on simmering market speculation that Japan could face US pressure to prop up the yen, and help Washington reduce the huge US trade deficit.
Trump has hit Japan with 24 per cent tariffs on its exports to the US although, like most of his levies, they have been paused until early July. A 10 per cent universal rate remains in place, as does a 25 per cent duty on cars, a mainstay of Japan's export-heavy economy.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
