Japan says US promises to fix double tariff oversight
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Japan's Economic Revitalisation Minister Ryosei Akazawa urged the US to issue a presidential order to lower auto tariffs on Japan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TOKYO - The US government on Aug 7 promised to amend a presidential executive order to remove overlapping tariffs on Japanese goods, Tokyo’s trade negotiator said, after talks in Washington to fix what he called a “regrettable” error.
In those discussions in Washington, Mr Ryosei Akazawa urged Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to ensure that an earlier agreed 15 per cent levy on Japanese imports was not also stacked on goods that were already subject to higher tariffs.
Mr Lutnick and Mr Bessent said Mr Trump would at the same time lower auto tariffs to 15 per cent from 27.5 per cent, in line with the agreement on trade reached by the two countries in July.
“Frankly, I did not expect to be visiting the US again so soon after my last trip,” said Mr Akazawa, who has travelled to Washington nine times since April.
The US Treasury and Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the meetings with Mr Akazawa.
The further clarity on US tariffs as well as strong corporate earnings pushed Japan’s broad Topix index to a record over the key psychological mark of 3,000 points.
Much of what Mr Akazawa negotiated in July during his previous visit to Washington, including directly with Mr Trump, was never put into a signed document.
That created confusion in Tokyo and fears that some Japanese companies could face higher tariffs than anticipated.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has been criticised by his opponents for not crafting a joint statement with Mr Trump on the trade deal.
Mr Ishiba, who is under pressure from some in his party to step down after July’s upper house election loss, said he chose not to do so to speed the agreement’s implementation.
To clinch the trade deal, the Japanese premier agreed to raise investment in the US by as much as US$550 billion (S$706 billion) through government-backed loans and guarantees for projects that benefited both countries.
Mr Trump later compared that to a baseball player’s signing bonus that Washington could invest as it liked.
Mr Akazawa declined to say whether he discussed the investment pledge with Mr Lutnick and Mr Bessent.
Japan “will continue to maintain close communication with the US side at various levels”, the government said in a statement. REUTERS
