TOKYO, Feb 24 — Japan’s trade minister, Ryosei Akazawa, has asked the United States not to treat the country less favourably than under last year’s trade deal, as the new 10 per cent global tariff proposed by US President Donald Trump is set to take effect, the ministry said Tuesday, Kyodo News reported.
During Monday’s telephone talk, Akazawa and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick agreed to swiftly and sincerely implement the deal, with Tokyo pledging to invest US$550 billion in return for a reduction of US tariffs on Japanese goods.
The 40-minute telephone call came after Trump announced earlier this month Japan’s first set of investment projects in the United States, worth about US$36 billion.
Akazawa, minister of economy, trade and industry, and Lutnick confirmed they will arrange the details of the first batch of investments to be implemented promptly and smoothly while agreeing to continue close coordination, the ministry said.
The bilateral agreement reached last July set the United States’ reciprocal tariff on Japanese goods, including automobiles, at 15 per cent in exchange for Tokyo’s US$550 billion investment package.
On Friday, the US Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs targeting almost all U.S. trading partners, as well as the fentanyl-related levies he had applied to goods from China, Canada and Mexico using a 1970s-era emergency law.
Trump subsequently announced a new, across-the-board 10 per cent tariff under a different legal framework, set to take place on Tuesday local time.
But shortly afterward, Trump said the rate would be raised to 15 per cent, without specifying when, and hinted at unleashing other import taxes.
