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The Yomiuri Shimbun Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, third from left, speaks during the second meeting of the Comprehensive Response Headquarters for U.S. Tariff Measures on Friday.
By Masaomi Shimosato and Hiroyuki Sato / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
6:00 JST, April 13, 2025
With a pause of only about 90 days before Washington imposes its additional, country-specific “reciprocal tariffs,” the Japanese government has yet to find effective bargaining chips to convince U.S. President Donald Trump to relent.
In response to a series of new tariff measures taken by the United States, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, at a Friday meeting of the Comprehensive Response Headquarters for U.S. Tariff Measures, officially named Ryosei Akazawa, minister in charge of economic revitalization, as Japan’s chief negotiator with the Trump administration.
According to government officials, coordination is underway for Akazawa to visit the United States on Wednesday and meet with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and other officials on the following day.
Trump has been calling for Japan to further open its automobile and agricultural markets. Should the Japanese government make concessions, however, a backlash from domestic industries can be expected.
“Japan remains subject to the new tariffs,” Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto said at a press conference after a Cabinet meeting on Friday. “The tough situation, which will have an enormous impact on our industries and jobs, has not changed.”
Washington announced on April 9 that it was temporarily suspending the additional portion of reciprocal tariffs that were to be placed on top of baseline tariffs. However, the additional 25% tariff imposed on Japanese vehicles entering the United States remains in effect.
As Muto said automobiles are the “foundation of Japanese industry,” accounting for about 30% of Japan’s exports to the United States, the government considers auto exports and tariffs a top priority issue in negotiating with the United States.
Japan imposes no tariffs on imported vehicles, but U.S.-made automobiles entering the Japanese market totaled only 16,000 units in 2024, or one-twelfth the number of European-made cars imported.
The United States has criticized the Japanese market as closed, citing such “non-tariff barriers” as differences in safety standards and preferential tax treatment for small vehicles.
Since “the relaxation of safety standards is hard to consider,” as a senior official of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry put it, the government has begun considering easing the certification system for foreign-made vehicles and reviewing the automobile weight tax as bargaining chips.
Yet, the U.S.-made cars are unpopular in Japan because of their large size and poor fuel efficiency. A government official said sarcastically: “Even with deregulations, they won’t sell here. The only way would be to change the left-hand traffic on roads to right-hand traffic [the same as in the United States].”
‘Beyond comprehension’
Negotiations in the agricultural sector are also expected to be tough. Trump has made Japan’s “700%” tariff on imported rice the object of his attack.
Japan has set a minimum access quota, which requires the country to import 770,000 tons of rice a year with no tariff impose while levying a tariff of ¥341 per kilogram on the amount of imports exceeding the quota.
Based on current international market prices, this tariff works out to approximately 200%, not 700%. Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Taku Eto criticizes the U.S. claim as “beyond comprehension.”
In negotiations with Washington, a 21.6% tariff imposed on U.S. beef will also likely be subject to the talks. However, in past trade negotiations, including the ones for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, Japan has stubbornly defended its tariffs on key products, such as rice and beef, to protect its domestic industries.
“The United States has a trade surplus [with Japan] in agriculture, forestry and fisheries products,” a senior farm ministry official said. “Even if Japan lowers the tariffs [on such products], would that still work as a bargaining chip?”
The government is also cautious of the exchange rate being taken up in the upcoming negotiations. Trump has criticized Japan by name for reducing the value of its currency against the U.S. dollar.
On April 7, Bessent in his posts on social media said that “currency issues” would be on the agenda for the Japan-U.S. talks.
After the reciprocal tariffs were announced, the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasuries fell.
Trump is said to favor a weaker dollar, which is favorable to increasing U.S. exports, while Bessent is said to be committed to policies that will lead to a strong dollar.
“[Bessent] must be taking a more rational view if a weaker dollar is really acceptable,” said a senior official in charge of economic policies.
Meanwhile, to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Japan, the Japanese government may propose to expand its purchases of defense equipment from the United States.
Trump has been urging Japan and other countries to expand their purchases of U.S.-made equipment.
“Japan could increase the purchases of U.S.-made defense equipment as a way of promoting bilateral security cooperation,” a senior Defense Ministry official said.
