WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) -Top U.S. and Japanese officials agreed to start immediate working-level consultations after “frank and constructive” discussions on fair and reciprocal trade in Washington on Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer met with Japan’s Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa, another set of discussions sought by U.S. trading partners to avert high tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump last month.
“During their frank and constructive discussions on fair and reciprocal trade, Secretary Bessent highlighted to Minister Akazawa both tariffs and non-tariff measures, the importance of economic security as national security, and other issues of concern,” Treasury said in a statement.
The Nikkei newspaper reported earlier that U.S. tariff negotiators appeared reluctant to lower levies on cars, steel and aluminium in Thursday’s meeting, a stance that made the Japanese side feel that cooperation could be difficult.
During the meeting, Japanese officials explained an outline of measures it would take to reduce its huge trade surplus with the U.S. such as reviewing non-tariff barriers on auto imports and expanding purchases of U.S. agricultural goods, the Nikkei said, citing sources it did not identify.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, speaking in a TV interview, said that “the tariffs, represented by the ones on cars, are absolutely unacceptable.”
“Reduction of (the U.S.) trade deficit should be possible … and we’ll make efforts to reduce it, but that should never sacrifice Japan’s jobs,” Ishiba told an interview with Fuji News Network.
Akazawa told Reuters that he had deepened talks on trade, non-tariff measures and economic security cooperation in his second round of talks with Bessent in Washington on Thursday. He said they hoped to meet again in mid-May.
U.S. President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 10% tariff on all countries except Canada, Mexico and China, along with higher tariff rates for many big trading partners, including Japan, which faces a 24% tariff rate starting in July unless it can negotiate a deal with the U.S.
Washington is pushing Japan to lower its own tariffs and Trump has accused the country of intentionally weakening the yen to give its exports a trade advantage – an accusation Tokyo denies. Trump’s tariffs, including a 25% tariff on imported cars, are already weighing heavily on the Japanese economy.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara, Satoshi Sugiyama and Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo and Andrea Shalal and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Edwina Gibbs, Aidan Lewis and Aurora Ellis)
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