TOKYO/BRIDGEWATER, New Jersey (Reuters) -Japan’s tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa held “in-depth exchanges” over the phone with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday and Saturday, the Japanese government said.
A pause on a 24% reciprocal tariff on imports from Japan expires on July 9, although U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested the rate could be even higher.
The Japanese government also said in a statement that it intends to continue actively coordinating with the U.S. side on the matter, as it worked to avert higher tariffs.
The White House declined to comment on the report, referring only to Trump’s recent comments on Japan.
Trump this week hammered Japan over what he said was Tokyo’s reluctance to import U.S.-grown rice, and accusing Japan of engaging in “unfair” autos trade.
Japan has in fact imported historically high volumes of U.S. rice in recent months as domestically grown rice has skyrocketed in price since last year.
It was unclear if Trump would make good his pledge to skip further trade negotiations with Japan and send it a letter with a specific tariff rate, on top of the 10% already in effect on most trading partners. On Friday he said he had signed letters to 12 countries and they would be going out on Monday, but did not identify them.
He expressed doubt that a deal could be reached with Japan on Tuesday, and suggested he could impose a tariff of 30% or 35% on imports from Japan – well above the 24% tariff rate he announced on April 2.
Japanese Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday said he was determined to protect his country’s national interests as trade negotiations with the U.S. struggled, noting that his country was the largest investor in the United States.
Tokyo has yet to secure a trade deal after nearly three months of negotiations as it scrambles to find ways to get Washington to exempt Japan’s automakers from 25% automobile industry-specific tariffs, which are hurting the country’s manufacturing sector.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Alison Williams)
