Japan Calls on US to Refrain from Increasing Tariffs Before Leaders’ Summit
The appeal was made during discussions held Friday in Washington, D.C. between Japan’s minister responsible for economy, trade, and industry, Ryosei Akazawa, and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Reports indicated that Akazawa asked American officials not to impose tariffs on Japanese products beyond the levels that were agreed upon last year.
Following the roughly two-hour meeting, Akazawa told reporters that the conversation also addressed potential cooperation and investment initiatives between the two countries. Areas discussed reportedly included energy development, supplies of critical minerals, and collaboration in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence.
The discussions come ahead of a planned meeting at the White House on March 19, where Takaichi and Trump are expected to hold direct talks.
Tariff concerns resurfaced last month after the US Supreme Court invalidated a broad set of global tariffs introduced by Trump. Shortly afterward, the US president announced a new tariff policy establishing a 10% rate on most imported goods worldwide, with plans to increase it to 15% under a separate legal framework.
Akazawa stated that he requested the US refrain from applying the higher tariff levels to Japanese imports, referencing the agreement reached between the two countries in July of last year.
Under that arrangement, Japan committed to investing approximately $550 billion in key strategic industries across the United States in exchange for lower tariff rates on its exports.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the
information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept
any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images,
videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information
contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright
issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
