Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, spoke with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick by phone twice on Saturday, an official said, as they try to iron out some of the most difficult issues in pursuit of a deal that will be beneficial to both countries.
Akazawa, who has extended his stay in Washington, spoke to Lutnick for about 15 minutes in the morning and about 20 minutes in the evening, the Japanese government said, adding Tokyo will continue to work "strenuously" with Washington toward an agreement.
Akazawa's calls with Lutnick came a day after they held a meeting that lasted about an hour, with sharp differences apparently remaining over U.S. President Donald Trump's hefty tariffs on foreign-made cars and auto parts.
In the ongoing negotiations, Japan has placed top priority on mitigating the impact of the Trump administration's increase in April of the tariff on imported automobiles to 27.5 percent from 2.5 percent.
Trump and his trade team have shown no signs of scrapping or lowering such sector-based tariffs, including on steel and aluminum, that the president has imposed on national security grounds.
Akazawa arrived in Washington on Thursday for his seventh round of ministerial meetings on tariffs with U.S. Cabinet members.
Akazawa, Japan's minister for economic revitalization, was initially due to leave for Tokyo on Saturday, but he extended his visit to explore a separate meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
The official said it remains unclear how long Akazawa will stay in the U.S. capital.
© KYODO
19 Comments
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sakurasuki
Any tariffs from the Japan side, that Japan really willing to give up? In exchange for leniency in tariffs for US product that enter in Japan? Japan will start doing sucking teeth gesture.
We're not even talking about Japan's non-tariff barriers yet.
https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/japan-trade-barriers
CrashTestDummy
"Akazawa, who has extended his stay in Washington, spoke to Lutnick for about 15 minutes in the morning and about 20 minutes in the evening"
Two talks of 15 and 20 minutes? Yeah sure, that is really putting some time and effort to discuss the fate of the Japan and US trade. Might as well just write the deals on paper napkins at a fast food restaurant. Lol.
garypen
I've got Lutnick as the next to go in the "Which One Of His I-Only-Hire-The-Best is Trump Gonna Kick To The Curb" pool.
BB
Akazawa is in Washington but Lutnick can't be bothered to meet him face to face. The arrogance is astounding.
OssanAmerica
Maybe japan needs to do what Canada just did.
YankeeX
Let's hope he does better than Nippon Steel.
dan
America is not your friend Japan .
bass4funk
That goes both ways, but all jokes aside, Japan is a great ally, but everyone needs to pay their fair share and in the long term, Japan can always count on the U.S. being there, but I hope one day Japan grows powerful enough where it can semi-take care of itself across the spectrum and be less reliant on the U.S.
Oldboy
Maybe just fax a simple drawing,and save us the taxpayers ' expenses for seven Trans-Pacific trips for no reason?
Peter Neil
Dealers are still selling existing pre-tariff inventory for another month. Each Japanese car company has a different approach based on its situation.
Toyota isn’t making negotiations easier by temporarily covering the tariff for dealers. The US side will think that will happen forever, but it won’t.
Toyota has set aside $100 million for tariffs, but will work on increasing non-US sales to cover that. Toyota increased global sales this quarter. That’s short term, but mid-term thinking is that the tariffs will go away when Trump is out of office.
Total US new car sales for the 2nd qtr will show at least a 6% decline.
The tariffs collected so far on all products hasn’t helped the overall US trade deficit. It climbed almost 10% because of reduced US exports. Companies are sourcing outside the US because of uncertainty.
Anyway, 27.5% tariff on imported cars and parts is bad for the economies of Japan and the US. No one wins.
itsonlyrocknroll
Japan's top tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa could be attempting to flog a dead horse.
Be confident in your products, an option is to expand your manufacture base in US.
As J working age population could continue to shrink.
Supply chains allowing.
Europe is also open to export market growth.
HopeSpringsEternal
Like Canada, Japan has little real leverage, as Japan Inc. relies heavily on the US market, which is far larger than Japan, while US Corps have relatively little exposure or concern about Japan's market, which is rapidly shrinking.
Keep in mind, Japan was on the verge of being world's largest economy almost 40 years ago, and this year it'll be lucky to be even 3% of Global GDP with severe aging and depopulation for many decades to come, meaning an increasingly irrelevant unprofitable market for most.
HopeSpringsEternal
Pretty safe bet US negotiators repeatedly telling their Japanese counterparts..."Look, you've got a serious auto problem, over-exposure in a global market that's rapidly transforming and consolidating, that's not our problem, and neither is your ongoing demographic collapse."
Peter Neil
I think it’s strange that people will reply to ChatGPT.
itsonlyrocknroll
Anyway, 27.5% tariff on imported cars and parts is bad for the economies of Japan and the US........Peter Neil
Bottom line undeniable.
Options.
Business models could absorb some of the costs, areas of productivity could also be open to improvement.
However, President Trump could well be intransigent, quite disappointing, it is not as if the Japan is trying to flog a defective product.
I have just sold my driving licence threatening, Honda civic R, for close to the purchase price.
Derek Grebe
This is humiliating. The billionaire Lutnick won't even make time in his day to meet the man he's supposed to be negotiating with.
I really hope against hope that Japan will show some spine and tell Trump and his lackeys to sod off. There are plenty of other places to do business, most of whom are growing weary of the corrupt kleptocratic Trump plunder club.
fxgai
100% tariffs on iphones, and Amazon and google services from Japan's side. Bring it!
OssanAmerica
America is very much Japan's friend.
It's the idiot in the White House (whom the idiots voted in) who is not anybody's friend. Well maybe Putin.
Bret T
OssanAmericaToday 08:25 pm JST
It's the idiot in the White House (whom the idiots voted in) who is not anybody's friend. Well maybe Putin.
Will you provide some evidence of "the Putin link"? I would have thought that fairy tale would die after Pres Trump continued funding to Ukraine and the Iran (China/Russia love child) bombing.
As for auto tariffs, I imagine it's not as simple as it seems to resolve. But knowing how smart the leaders of the Japanese auto makers are, I'm guessing they have decided to absorb the costs until they see the US midterm election pressures heat up. They may believe Pres Trump will need to back off as the end of Summer approaches. So, Akazawa has not been carrying much in his brief case when he goes to Washington.