Japan to voice concern over US trade deal inconsistency, PM Ishiba says

21/4/2025 14:27

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Monday Tokyo has no plan to terminate a trade deal struck with the U.S. in 2019, but will keep voicing "grave concern" over inconsistency between the deal and President Donald Trump's latest automobile tariffs.



During Trump's first term as president, the U.S. and Japan signed a bilateral trade deal in 2019 that cut tariffs on U.S. farm goods, Japanese machine tools and other products while staving off the threat of higher U.S. car duties.



Although the agreement did not cover automobile trade, then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he had received assurances from Trump that the U.S. would not impose "Section 232" national security tariffs on Japanese car imports.



Abe had told a news conference after signing the deal, "Between President Trump and I, myself, this has been firmly confirmed that no further, additional tariffs will imposed."



Japan, however, was not exempted from Trump's latest 25% tariff slapped on all automobile imports in the United States.