The Japanese main negotiator Ryosei Akazawa gave his goal of leading punctual tariff discussions to a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to Trump’s surprise pivot to enable a partnership between two of the steel manufacturers of the countries.
“It was confirmed that the leaders of the two nations are looking forward to their meeting,” said Akazawa on Friday reporters in Washington after met the US trade minister Howard Lutnick and Ustr Jamieson Greer. “We will do our best.”
Akazawa’s statements follow a phoneCallBetween Trump and Ishiba, promises to meet on the edge of the Seven Summit group next month. Hours later, Trump gave his approval for a partnership between Nippon Steel Corp. and in Steel of the United States Corp. hopes that the president is more willing to hear Japan’s position.
Read more:Trump shocked with American steel-nippon approval, but is difficult to understand in detail
The US President said the partnership would create at least 70,000 jobs and add $ 14 billion to the US economy. The use of the importance of the investment of Japan in the US economy is one of the tactics Tokyo to win concessions from Washington for tariffs. Japan had the largest stock of foreign direct investments in the United States in the five years until 2023, as the data of the Ministry of Commerce show.
Akazawa said that Nippon Steel’s investment would help the US economy, even though he refused to comment on the effects of a corporate agreement for trade talks or whether the business is a buyout before an official announcement by the USA.
In a separate explanation of the cabinet it states that Akazawa has firmly requested that the United States rethink its tariffs in Japan. Akazawa said the talks concentrated on the expansion of trade, non-tariff measures and the cooperation with economic security and they were Franker and went deeper than before.
As with other nations, Trump hit Japan with a delivery of 25% on cars, steel and aluminum and a 10% tariff for the entire board. The so -called mutual tariff is to be increased to 24% in early July, apart from a deal. Cars and auto parts comprise around a third of all exports to the USA from Japan. The auto industry is an essential growth driver for the Japanese economy and employs around 8% of the workforce.
With a choice of the upper house this summer, the achievement of a trade agreement could help increase the approval reviews of Ishiba that have dropped to the lowest levels of its Premiership. A deal that gives the United States too much soil, especially in the agricultural sector, without fulfilling the auto tariffs, could also backfire.
Read more:Japan PM Ishiba’s support Falls, no fall before July
For Akazawa, this was the third round of the top trading talks with his US colleagues. It is expected to visit the United States again to meet finance ministers Scott Bessent next week. Before the meetings on Friday, Akazawa spoke the need to reach the deal as a package and warned against hurrying on it.
“It is meaningless to talk about how close they came to the negotiation, because as it was said in English, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,” said Akazawa.
This story was originally on Fortune.com
