Trump criticises Japanese cars again ahead of Bessent visit
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This comes after Mr Donald Trump announced last week that he will raise across-the-board tariffs on Japan to 25 per cent on Aug 1.
PHOTO: EPA
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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump attacked the car trade imbalance between the US and Japan again on July 13, days ahead of a scheduled visit by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to the Asian country that could apply further pressure to the minority government.
“They sell us millions and millions of cars a year. We sell them no cars because they won’t accept our cars. And they won’t accept much of our agriculture either,” Mr Trump told reporters in Washington.
Mr Trump announced last week that he will raise across-the-board tariffs on Japan to 25 per cent on Aug 1, after months of negotiations between Japan’s top negotiator Ryosei Akazawa and Mr Trump’s aides yielded little progress.
Mr Bessent, one of the three negotiators leading the US efforts to reach global trade deals, is set to come to Japan to visit the World Expo in Osaka on July 19, but there has been no sign of a trade meeting on the sidelines so far.
Around 80 per cent of Japan’s trade surplus with the US is in cars and car parts, and the country has already been hit by 25 per cent sectoral tariffs on autos. While Mr Trump has repeatedly complained about Japanese consumers not buying US cars, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has said American cars are left-hand drive, large and fuel inefficient, making them a tough sell in the country.
Mr Bessent’s visit is also set a day before an Upper House election that could deliver a punishing result for Mr Ishiba’s minority government. About 9 per cent of people said the tariff negotiations would inform how they vote, according to polls conducted by public broadcaster NHK. BLOOMBERG
