Japan’s request from the US to exempt the car industry tariffs

Japanese Foreign Minister Takshi Iwaya described US government tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as “unfortunate”.

The remarks were made on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of the Seven Foreign Ministers in Canada, meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

After the meeting, Ivaya told reporters that it had called on the United States to exempt Japan from planned tariffs for the automotive and mutual tariffs.

US President Donald Trump announced on February 7 that 5 % tariffs on steel and aluminum imports will be implemented globally, in order to support national industries and American producers. These tariffs were implemented last Wednesday.

Ivaya also noted that Rubio informed that strengthening bilateral relations in accordance with the agreements between Japanese Prime Minister Shigiro Ishiba and US President during their visit to the White House last February.

Iwaya said Rubio described US -Japan relations as “very important” and announced that he would convey Tokyo’s concerns to Washington.

Ivaya said they had addressed issues related to Ukraine and the Gaza Strip during the about 5 -minute conversations that were their third visit to Trump’s power in January, though it did not provide further details.

Trump had earlier said that tariffs on imported cars would probably be imposed on April 5. Currently, for Japanese cars, tariffs are 6.5 percent.

According to Japan’s official data, about 1.5 million cars have been exported to the United States, accounting for 2.5 percent of its total exports to the world’s largest economy.

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