Japan considers reversing its demand that the US remove tariffs: sources
According to sources close to the situation, Japan is thinking of abandoning its initial demand for the complete removal of new U.S. tariffs and may instead agree to lower duty rates in order to negotiate a trade agreement with the United States, given President Donald Trump’s unwillingness to comply.
The suggestion comes as Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s top tariff negotiator, prepares to travel to the US on Friday for the third round of bilateral ministerial-level negotiations. China and Britain have already agreed to lower tariffs under the Trump administration.
According to the sources, Akazawa is expected to meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer later this week, while his counterpart, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is anticipated to be absent because of a Group of Seven meeting in Canada.
Akazawa, known as a close aide to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, has expressed eagerness to visit the United States again by the end of May to hold talks with Bessent, hoping to make some achievements ahead of this summer’s House of Councillors election, they added.
According to negotiation sources, the Trump administration has rejected Japan’s call for tariff eliminations and signaled that it has no intention to discuss a review of the 25 percent tariffs on imports of automobiles, which is weighing on Japan’s mainstay car industry, as well as on steel and aluminum.
Still, Japan is pinning hopes that auto tariffs will be negotiable, seeing Britain — the first to seal a deal with the Trump administration since its steep tariffs rattled countries around the world — allowed to export 100,000 cars per year into the U.S. market with a 10 percent tariff, a partial exemption from his new 25 percent auto levies.
The agreement has been hailed by Japanese officials as evidence that “autos are subject” to negotiations.
However, it’s still unclear how much the Trump administration would compromise with Japan, which ships 1.36 million cars to the US, roughly 13 times as many as Britain does.
Trump, who criticizes trade deficits and feels that the US has been “ripped off” by its trading partners, imposed 25% levies on all imported steel and aluminum in March and 25% tariffs on autos in April.
Trump imposed what he refers to as reciprocal tariffs, which include additional, higher country-specific duties in addition to a baseline tariff of 10% for practically all countries worldwide.
The extra tariffs have been paused for 90 days until early July to allow for negotiations.
A Japanese government source said it appears “quite difficult” to remove or bring down the 10 percent baseline rate, indicating that the country-specific 14 percent imposed on Japan will be the focus of the negotiations.
In the previous two rounds of ministerial-level tariff negotiations that took place in April and May, Akazawa held talks with Bessent, Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Trump has claimed that Japan has devalued the yen to give its carmakers and other manufacturers an advantage, an assertion which Japanese officials have dismissed as untrue.
Akazawa, who serves as economic revitalization minister, told a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday that bilateral working-level talks have been held since Monday in Washington with the participation of senior officials from Japan’s foreign and trade ministries.