Washington: President Donald Trump said he’s joining some of his top economic advisers on Wednesday for negotiations at the White House over tariffs and trade with a top Japanese official who is travelling to Washington for the talks.
The Republican president said in a post on his social media platform that he’ll attend the meeting alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, top economic advisers with a central role in his trade and tariff policies.
Trump recently announced a round of global tariffs but then quickly put them on hold for 90 days after the markets tanked and fears of a recession mounted. He left steep tariffs in place against China.
The move put Japan’s 24 per cent across-the-board tariff on hold, but a 10 per cent baseline tariff and a 25 per cent tariff on cars, auto parts, steel and aluminum exports to the US remain in place.
US economic rival China, meanwhile, is trying to capitalise on the turmoil around Trump’s announcements, with its leader, President Xi Jinping, touring nations of Southeast Asia and promoting his country as a more reliable trade partner.
Japan, like many other nations around the world that are fearful of Trump’s tariffs and the likely economic fallout, has been scrambling to respond. It has set up a special task force to assess the impact of the tariffs and offer loans and consultation to anxious companies.
Although Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has been working hard to coax exemptions out of Trump, the government has said little officially on what concessions it might offer during these talks.
“Japan is coming in today to negotiate Tariffs, the cost of military support, and TRADE FAIRNESS.’ I will attend the meeting, along with Treasury & Commerce Secretaries,” Trump wrote in the social media post. “Hopefully something can be worked out which is good (GREAT!) for Japan and the USA!” Japan’s chief trade negotiator, Economic Revitalisation Minister Ryosei Akazawa, was headed to Washington on a mission to convince US officials to remove Trump’s tariff measures against the East Asian ally of the United States.
Akazawa is to hold his first talks with Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer through Friday.
“I am prepared for the talks,” Akazawa told reporters at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport before boarding his flight to Washington. “I will negotiate in order to firmly protect our national interest.” He said that both Bessent and Greer are “known to be pro-Japan and professionally talented” and that he hopes to build a relationship of trust with them. “I believe we can have good talks toward a win-win relationship that will serve national interest for both Japan and the United States,” he said.
Japan is among the first countries to start negotiations with the US. Trump and other administration officials have said the phones have been “ringing off the hook” with dozens of countries calling, eager to strike deals with a president who views himself as a master negotiator to avoid tariffs when the 90-day pause ends.
But it was not immediately clear what either side hoped to get out of the negotiations. The US asks remain unclear, other than Trump’s desire for no bilateral trade deficit.
Japan’s asks also are unclear, although it contends that Trump’s tariff measures are likely to violate bilateral trade agreements or World Trade Organization rules. While Ishiba has said he opposes retaliatory tariffs, he also has said he is in no rush to push for a settlement because he doesn’t want concessions.
Xi, meanwhile, stopped in Malaysia on Wednesday and told its leader that China will be a collaborative partner and stand with its Southeast Asian neighbors after the global economic shocks.
Xi is touring Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia this week on a trip that likely was planned before the tariffs’ uncertainty but that he’s also using to promote Beijing as a source of stability in the region and shore up relationships in that part of the world as he looks for ways to mitigate the 145 per cent tariffs that Trump is keeping on China.
“In the face of shocks to global order and economic globalization, China and Malaysia will stand with countries in the region to combat the undercurrents of geopolitical … confrontation, as well as the counter-currents of unilateralism and protectionism,” Xi said in remarks at a dinner with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
“Together, we will safeguard the bright prospects of our Asian family,” he added.
Xi has promised Malaysia and Vietnam greater access to Chinese markets on his visits, although few details were shared.
In Washington, Trump said he also wants to discuss US military support for Japan, or how much the Japanese contribute to the cost of American troops stationed there, largely as a deterrent to China.
Trump’s demand for more defense spending concerns the Japanese.
Under its national security strategy, Japan aims to double annual defence spending to nearly USD 10 trillion, or 2 per cent of GDP, in 2027, while there is a concern that Trump may ask for that to be increased to 3 per cent of GDP. Japanese Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said Tuesday that the military budget for this year is about 1.8 per cent of Japan’s GDP.
(Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by FPJ’s editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)
