Japan’s trade minister fails to win tariff exemption assurance from US
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Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto said the US did acknowledge the contributions of Japanese companies to its economy.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON - Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto said he had asked the United States not to impose trade tariffs on his country, but did not win any assurance that Japan would be exempt, including from a 25 per cent steel and aluminium duty set to start on March 12.
“We agreed to continue close consultations with the US government and to hold discussions at the working level as soon as possible,” Mr Muto said in Washington on March 10 after meetings with Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett.
In a bid to persuade US President Donald Trump to exempt Japan from tariffs on cars and other products, Mr Muto and other senior Japanese officials are touting Japan as a close economic partner that has invested heavily in the US economy and created millions of jobs.
The new 25 per cent tariff rates on steel and aluminium imports into the US are set to take effect on March 12, according to the executive orders that Mr Trump signed in February.
“We did not receive a response that Japan would be exempt,” Mr Muto said.
He added that the US had acknowledged the contributions of Japanese companies to its economy, but he declined to elaborate on his counterparts’ stance otherwise.
“We will need to continue asserting our views,” he said.
In talks with his US counterparts, Mr Muto said they also discussed Japan buying more US liquefied natural gas, a gas pipeline project in Alaska, and Nippon Steel’s bid to buy US Steel. REUTERS