Japan offering fund to aid U.S. shipbuilding as part of tariff negotiations
Japan has offered to establish a fund to help revive the U.S. shipbuilding industry as part of tariff negotiations between the two countries, it was learned Wednesday.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump aims to strengthen his country's shipbuilding capacity from an economic security perspective, and Tokyo hopes that offering cooperation in this field will lead to concessions from Washington in tariff talks.
On Wednesday, the steering committee of the House of Councilors approved a four-day trip to the United States from Thursday by economic revitalization minister Ryosei Akazawa, Japan's chief tariff negotiator.
During the trip, Akazawa will hold the fourth ministerial-level session of the tariff talks on Friday local time. The session is expected to be attended by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who was absent from the previous session.
The committee also approved Akazawa's three-day trip to France from Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Akazawa voiced his eagerness to advance the tariff negotiations with the United States, even during the trip to France. "If we have an opportunity to engage in tariff discussions with the United States, we will prioritize that above all else," he told reporters at the Prime Minister's Office.
In the global shipbuilding market, China holds a dominant share. That has sparked national security concerns in the United States, where the shipbuilding industry has declined. The United States has called on allies including Japan to help revive the sector.
"The United States is interested in whether U.S. warships can be repaired in Japan," Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, on Sunday.
Referring to the growing importance of Arctic shipping routes and icebreakers, Ishiba also noted that "Japan has an advantage in icebreaker technology."
Also on the agenda for the upcoming tariff session is Japan's support for maintaining repair docks in the United States.
Tokyo hopes to accelerate the tariff talks, with a view to striking an agreement at a possible bilateral summit on the sidelines of the Group of Seven leaders' meeting next month.
As the two countries are still divided over matters such as additional auto tariffs, it remains to be seen how much middle ground the two sides can find on shipbuilding cooperation.
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