The Japanese negotiator on US customs duties, Riosi Akazawa, after new talks on the matter, confirmed that any agreement with the United States necessarily requires a comprehensive review of the customs duties related to the customs duties.
Japan has been facing Washington’s close ally and the main source of foreign investment in the United States, since the beginning of last April, similar to other countries, 10% American customs duties, as well as an additional fee of 25% on cars and steel.
Cars represent about 30% of Japanese exports to the United States.
to threaten
Japan also faces a threat to impose additional fees by 24% on all its exports, according to the principle of “reciprocity”. These fees have been suspended until early July. A 10%tax is currently imposed.
The negotiator, Riosi Akazawa, told reporters after his return to Japan that the two sides “made progress” in their talks, but Tokyo rejected the idea of a partial agreement.
“We have informed them that customs agreements are in their entirety and we stressed the need to review them,” said Acazawa, who holds the position of Minister of Economic Recovery.
He added: “If this request is not taken into account in a comprehensive agreement, there will be no opportunity to understand.”
“Japan and the United States are still far away from the other and are currently unable to find a common ground,” said Japanese Prime Minister Shikiro Ishiba on Saturday.
He also described the decision of US President Donald Trump to impose a 25% tax on imported auto parts as “unfortunate”, saying that his country would pressure to reconsider it.
