Japan pressed the United States to swiftly implement an agreed cut to auto tariffs and sought clarification on levies for other goods, as conflicting interpretations of the bilateral trade deal further pressured Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba‘s shaky administration. In a meeting with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in Washington on Wednesday, top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa urged the US to implement at an early date an agreed cut to US tariffs on Japanese auto and auto parts, Japan’s government said. Akazawa also sought confirmation and “immediate execution” of the two countries’ agreement on US levies for other goods imported from Japan, the government said in a statement released on Thursday. The meeting came hours before President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs on dozens of trading partners kicked in on Thursday, as Japan scrambles to clarify divergences with Washington on details of their bilateral trade deal. Under the deal clinched last month, the US agreed to cut tariffs on Japanese car imports to 15 per cent from levies totalling 27.5 per cent previously, but did not announce a timeframe for the change to take effect. While the two agreed that US duties on most other Japanese goods will be cut to 15 per cent from 25 per cent effective Thursday, a lack of written confirmation of the deal has led to confusion over whether the new 15 per cent tariffs will be stacked on top of existing levies. Japan argues the two countries had agreed its goods imported to the US would be exempt from such “stacking”.
But a Federal Register attached to President Donald Trump’s July 31 executive order that addressed tariff rates for many trading partners showed a “no stacking” condition applies to the European Union, but no such clarification was issued for Japan. “We have confirmed with the US that there is no discrepancy”,…that the 15 per cent tariff will not be added on top of existing levies, Ishiba told reporters on Thursday.”
Japan is strongly requesting the US to swiftly amend the executive order,” the premier said. Speaking in parliament on Tuesday, Akazawa said Japan wanted to make sure goods such as Japanese beef, which already carries tariffs above 15 per cent , will not be charged the new 15 per cent rate in addition. Japan’s Asahi newspaper reported on Thursday, citing an unnamed White House official, that the US will stack the tariffs. But in a regular news conference held shortly afterwards, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the US was unlikely to do this, adding that Akazawa had confirmed the point during a visit to Washington on Wednesday.
Ishiba, who is facing calls to step down after the ruling coalition’s huge loss in last month’s upper house election, has come under attack in parliament and domestic media for not…
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