Japan seeks 8th round of tariffs talks in U.S. amid Trump impasse
With President Donald Trump appearing to harden his stance ahead of next Wednesday's deadline for his administration's 90-day pause on country-specific tariffs, Japan's last-ditch effort will hinge on whether Ryosei Akazawa can secure a deal that includes a reduced tariff rate on cars, the source said.
In rounds of talks since April, the United States has been reluctant to accept Tokyo's request to withdraw or reduce the additional 25 percent tariff on cars.
Amid the stalemate, Japan is seeking an extension of the tariff suspension deadline to allow talks to continue.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Thursday expressed confidence that bilateral tariff negotiations with the United States are making steady progress.
"We need to cover a wide range of areas, including nontariff barriers. But we are steadily and certainly making progress on each of them," Ishiba told a program on public broadcaster NHK.
"Japan is the largest investor in the United States and the biggest contributor in terms of creating jobs. Our hope is that this will be taken into consideration," he said, underscoring the need for Washington to focus on investment rather than tariffs.
His remarks came as Trump on Tuesday floated the idea of raising tariffs on imports from Japan to as high as 30 percent or 35 percent, while complaining about Japan's purchases of American rice and cars.
"I'm not sure we're going to make a deal. I doubt it," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, calling Japan "very tough" and "very spoiled."
The dispute over auto tariffs has been a key obstacle to a deal, with Washington also pressuring its Asian security ally to boost imports of U.S. farm products, including rice, cars and oil, to help reduce its large trade deficit.
In return, Japan has highlighted its contributions to the U.S. economy and proposed a package deal that includes increased investment in the United States and cooperation on economic security, the source said.
Without an extension to the 90-day pause on part of the so-called reciprocal tariffs, Japan will face an additional 14 percent country-specific tariff on top of the 10 percent baseline duty the United States has imposed on imports from all countries.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that the United States warned Japanese officials during talks in late May that it might demand a cap on the number of vehicles Japan could export to the United States -- a policy known as a voluntary export restriction, citing people familiar with the matter.
But Japanese officials held firm, telling their U.S. counterparts they would not accept any deal that preserves Trump's 25 percent automotive tariff, resulting in a deadlock in the negotiations, the U.S. newspaper said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asahi Shimbun
an hour ago
- Asahi Shimbun
In reversal, Japan now wants rice farmers to produce more. Will it work?
JOETSU, Niigata Prefecture--For more than half a century, the Japanese government has encouraged its rice farmers to grow less of the crop so that prices of the national staple grain remained relatively high and steady. Now, under an ambitious agricultural policy announced this year, Tokyo is preparing for a reversal, envisaging a future of bountiful output that would secure the country's food security without sending prices into freefall and hurting its politically influential farmers. The new direction has taken on an unexpected urgency as Japanese grapple with a shortage of the all-important staple, which has prompted a historic spike in prices, a flood of imports, and interest from President Donald Trump, who has renewed pressure on Japan to buy U.S. rice as part of the allies' elusive trade deal. It is a policy that many farmers like Kazuhachi Hosaka welcome in principle, but with trepidation because questions over how it would work in practice remain unanswered. The government is aiming to complete a roadmap by the middle of next year. "We'd want the government to make sure there's some kind of a safety net for producers," Hosaka said at his farm in the northern prefecture of Niigata. "It's easy enough to switch rice for feed or processed foods to staple rice. But tilling land for new paddies or switching from wheat or soybeans would require labor, machinery and all kinds of investments." This year, Hosaka allocated all but 10 hectares (25 acres) of his 180-hectare land for staple rice, reducing feed-use rice by 20 hectares given the attractive prices. But he worries that prices could plunge if Japan's overall production goes unchecked under the new policy, set to be implemented from the 2027 crop year. "I do feel conflicted," Hosaka said about the doubling of retail rice prices to above 4,000 yen ($27.80) for a 5kg bag this year in what has turned into a national crisis. "It's important that rice prices settle at levels acceptable to both producers and consumers," he said. Hosaka hopes prices would stabilize around 3,000 to 3,500 yen - a level Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also hopes would be palatable for voters. Supermarket prices fell for a fifth straight week, to 3,801 yen in the seven days to June 22, but were still 70% higher than the same period last year. NATIONAL CRISIS For Japanese people, rice is more than just a staple food. Cultivated in the country for more than 2,000 years, rice is considered sacred in the indigenous Shinto religion and is deeply ingrained in local tradition and culture. The Japanese are famously proud of their short-grain Japonica variety, protecting the market with trade barriers. So when rice turned into a luxury item this year, consumers fumed and policymakers - facing imminent elections - worried. With an eye on voters ahead of an upper house election on July 20, the government has been releasing emergency rice from its stockpile to sell for about 2,000 yen ($13.83) per 5 kg (11 pounds). Farmers - also traditionally an important voting bloc for Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party - were told it was a dire but necessary move to protect Japan's food security and prevent consumers from switching permanently away from homegrown rice. But for most of the past 50 years, Japan has poured its energy into doing the opposite: providing subsidies to farmers to grow crops other than staple rice so as to prevent oversupply and a fall in prices. That system backfired last year when the farm ministry misread supply from the heat-damaged 2023 harvest, resulting in a severe shortage in August. The ensuing surge in prices made Japan an anomaly against a fall in global prices, and exposed the risks of its approach. The new policy, if successful, would prevent a recurrence by allocating 350,000 tons of rice for export in 2030 - an eight-fold jump from 45,000 tons last year - that could be redirected to the domestic market in the event of a shortage, the government says. Some agricultural experts say the policy is unrealistic. The idea of selling expensive Japanese rice abroad is counterintuitive, especially when even Japan is importing record amounts of the grain despite the 341 yen per kg levy that had previously priced foreign products out of the market. Japanese have also acquired a taste for U.S. Calrose rice, while imports from Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam have also been popular with businesses and cost-conscious consumers. "Expensive rice might sell to niche markets, but getting that up to 350,000 tons would require price competitiveness, and there's a long way for that," said Kazunuki Ohizumi, professor emeritus at Miyagi University and an expert on agricultural management. The government aims to provide some form of support but also expects farmers to make their own efforts to consolidate, and make use of artificial intelligence and other technologies to lower production costs. Meanwhile, Hosaka said, prices of fertilizers, pesticides and fuel have shot up, sending production costs through the roof. "It's tough," he said. "The government has released quite a bit of stockpiled rice, so I'm very worried about prices falling even further."
Nikkei Asia
an hour ago
- Nikkei Asia
Trump signs signature tax-cut and spending bill into law
U.S. President Donald Trump presents the sweeping spending and tax legislation known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," after he signed it, at the White House in Washington on July 4. © Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. President Donald Trump signed into law a massive package of tax and spending cuts in a ceremony at the White House on Friday, one day after the Republican-controlled House of Representatives narrowly approved the signature legislation of Trump's second term. The bill, which will fund Trump's immigration crackdown, make his 2017 tax cuts permanent and is expected to knock millions of Americans off health insurance, was passed with a 218-214 vote after an emotional debate on the House floor.
Japan Today
3 hours ago
- Japan Today
In U.S. capital, Trump tariffs bite into restaurant profits
John Filkins, corporate beverage director at Clyde's Restaurant Group, said businesses are having to pass on some cost hikes to customers By Beiyi SEOW Brazilian coffee beans, French champagne and Chinese teas -- drinks are a profit driver for U.S. restaurants, but higher import costs have eaten into margins and fed into consumer prices in the three months since President Donald Trump unveiled sweeping global tariffs. A stone's throw from the White House, a restaurant group that takes pride in dishing up fresh local meat and produce has found itself having to raise prices on its menus. "The reality is, we have to pass along some of those to our guests," said John Filkins, corporate beverage director at Clyde's Restaurant Group. "Could be anywhere from 50 cents to $1 on certain wines by the glass, or spirits, or some of our food menu items." "We've seen huge increases in coffee and in teas, and we're beginning to see some of those increases in food, as well as paper products coming on through as well," he added. Clyde's, which opened in the 1960s in Washington, has more than a dozen restaurants in and around the U.S. capital. One of them is The Hamilton in downtown Washington, where drinks prices have ticked up. While management has tried to limit increases, Filkins said this has been tough. Businesses have encountered snarled supply chains and higher costs since Trump imposed fresh tariffs after returning to the presidency in January. In April, the president unleashed his widest-ranging salvo, a 10 percent duty on imports from most trading partners. This is expected to surge to higher levels for dozens of economies. Leaders like Filkins are eyeing a deadline next Wednesday when the steeper tariffs are due to kick in. These are customized to each partner, with the level for European Union products rising to 20 percent and that for Japanese goods jumping to 24 percent unless they strike deals to avert or lower the rates. Filkins warned that the longer tariffs remain in place, the fewer small, independent distributors, importers and restaurants there might be. "The hope is we don't see tariffs to the extent where we're seeing them any longer," he added. "Restaurants are, at the end of the day, typically low cash, low margin." A typical outfit probably runs "in the single digits in terms of profit margin," he noted. This means that cutting out 10 percent to 15 percent of their profit for wine by the glass, for example, could prove a significant blow. Clyde's sources coffee beans from places like Brazil and Indonesia for its blends, while getting teas from India and China. "Over the course of the last probably six months, we've seen about a 20 to 30 percent increase of that cost," Filkins said. This is partly because suppliers and distributors are not only paying the 10 percent tariff but forking out more due to exchange rates. Imports from China face a 30 percent tariff currently even though Washington and Beijing have temporarily lowered tit-for-tat levies on each other's goods. Without a deal, products from Indonesia face a 32 percent duty come Wednesday, and the rate for India spikes to 26 percent. "For liquor, beer and wine, most of the wine we import comes from the EU," Filkins said, noting the impact is biggest on products from France, Italy, Spain and Portugal so far. Yet, his company is trying to hold off passing on additional costs entirely. "Consumers are not comfortable spending more in the current climate," said Filkins. The world's biggest economy has fared well after the COVID-19 pandemic, helped by a solid labor market that allowed consumers to keep spending. But economic growth has slowed alongside hiring. Economists are monitoring to see if tariffs feed more broadly into inflation this summer, and households become more selective with purchases. With Trump's approach of announcing, adjusting and halting tariffs roiling financial markets and fueling uncertainty -- forcing businesses to put investments on hold -- Filkins hopes for an easing of levies. "It's hard for all of us to forecast what's going to happen in the next eight days," said Filkins. "We can't base all of our decisions on speculation." © 2025 AFP
