Trump’s tariff policy in contextーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
Japan’s top tariff negotiator has arrived in Washington to meet his US counterpart for a second round of talks. Economic revitalization minister Akazavario plans to emphasize the benefits further Japanese investment would bring to the American economy. Japan needs the US to rethink its series of tariffs. The policies are starting to pose huge damage to the Japanese economy. So I will do my best to reach a winwin agreement. Akazawa said his talks with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are set for Thursday. Sources say Washington wants Tokyo to come up with proposals that would help reduce the US trade deficit with Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru said he hopes Akazawa will seek a mutually beneficial outcome regarding Japan US tariff negotiations. We see this as not one side winning and the other side losing. Minister Akazawa will tell the US side it’s important to play our respective roles globally and harmoniously. Meanwhile, President Trump has said he is in no rush to conclude a trade deal with Japan or with South Korea and India. He made the comment in a telephone interview on Wednesday with US media outlet News Nation. Asked when he will announce agreements with the three countries, Trump answered, “I’m in less of a hurry than you are.” Adding, “They want us. We don’t need them.” By seeming aloof, Trump appears to be trying to gain the upper hand and strike a better deal. A Japanese government task force is putting together a list of negotiating points for the ongoing talks. It covers what Washington calls non-tariff trade barriers as well as Tokyo’s plans to invest in the US and boost imports from the country. President Trump has questioned why only a small number of US autos are sold in Japan. The task force is considering Washington’s requests to modify Japan’s safety and electric vehicle charging standards. The office of the United States Trade Representative called such rules non-tariff barriers. Tokyo is also considering measures to simplify the screening process for imported vehicles. In addition, Washington has complained about the auto trade imbalance as Japan exports a much larger number of vehicles to the US. The task force in response will highlight the investment by Japanese automakers in America and additional spending plans to boost local output. Honda and Nissan have recently announced they will shift some production to the US from Japan. Toyota last month said it will invest $88 million to boost output in its factory in West Virginia. In the farming sector, Japan may increase imports of soybeans as US shipments to China are expected to shrink due to trade disputes with Beijing. Imports of American corn for livestock feed and bofuel could also increase. Rice is also on the negotiation list. Japan has a tariff-free import scheme for the grain called minimum access. The task force is discussing if more US rice could be included in this framework, but this has to be balanced against the interests of domestic farmers. We also asked Khara about the impact of Trump’s tariff strategy and how it might evolve. [Music] So, professor, what do you make of the Japan US negotiation in US tariffs? Japan is well positioned because the President Trump is focusing upon manufacturing only but the investment Japan is the biggest investor in the United States far bigger than the United Kingdom and we are sustaining 2 million jobs every year and Japan is the biggest holder of American national bonds and we sustain the American financial system by doing that and the we are paying a huge amount of money for digital service of magnificent 7 like Apple, Amazon Mr. Trump doesn’t see that. He says manufacturing, manufacturing, manufacturing. This is not just but in but the truth is we finished our trade war 30 years ago. We outgrew it. China is now fighting against against American true trade war and we Mr. Trump what Mr. Trump wants from us is to to to to to to give me give me something that I want this this tariff war and that that’s that’s what he wants and we should not we should not focus too much upon their demands because they have no precise demands and what they want is some the trade place is big in Japan so give give me give me back something and the all the Asians are paying something and it’s not it’s not tough at all well speaking of China President Trump seems to be taking really hardline stance towards the country. What do you think about that? Well, the China’s China’s different story. China is in the great power competition with with the United States. They are challenging US the leadership position in the world affairs and US squarely understands that and they do not allow that. So this is a competition for us. It is a game of free trade. You you you earn too much money. Give me give me back some money. That’s what Trump is saying. We don’t think it’s just but the but we have to negotiate somehow in for China. Americans cannot allow China to become bigger and bigger and bigger, distorting markets, giving huge amount of sub subsidies to state-owned enterprises and the stealing some the intellectual property and the dominating the manufact manufacturing manufacturing markets in the in the in the in in the world and they become bigger and bigger and finally they say Taiwan is mine. Let’s fight together against me and bring it on. That’s China. So Americans thinking is this is not fair. We have to stop this. If China wants to live inside our system, they have to abide by rules and don’t go to war. If they you are preparing a war using our system becoming rich, this must be ended. That’s American strategy. So, China is a very different story. What kind of impact do you think there is um to the rest of the world including those countries? Mr. Trump’s uh charge policy is hurting the alliance system and hurting the friends and that weakens American’s leadership. It’s not the interest of the United States. It’s not the interest of his allies. It’s not the interest of the world. So, how do you evaluate President Trump’s first 100 days in office? Uh, Mr. Trump wanted to do uh what he want to do and he’s now doing this. In the first administration, he was not well experienced. Now, this time he’s delivering his his wishes and his plans and he he’s very strong now. and his advisers are not not in like not like in the first administration General Matis and McMaster and Bolton he control the house and the senate and he he can defy the Supreme Court because Supreme Court is very much Republican and Trump supporters are very still very much supporting Trump but the one thing is clear that markets cannot be controlled by the president market is fighting back this is only one thing that can fight against Trump, what are the key issues um global issues should we focus on um regarding the Trump administration? How US will respond? Uh the national security issues because US is now only 25% of all the GDP. They were 100% before 1945 and they we are tired and they we have to focus and they are focusing upon China now. So Europeans are panicking because the Americans are withdrawing from Europe. They have have they have Putin fighting in Ukraine. They are doubling the defense budget. And here in here in N it’s opposite. Americans are coming back. They say you should do more. And the your defense budget is a joke. You can you have to fight against Chinese if anything happens over Taiwan, Taiwanese, Japanese and Koreans, Philippines. And this is what’s going on. So national security issues is very dire. We have to face it squarely.
As Japan begins its second round of trade talks with the US, former senior Japanese diplomat Kanehara Nobukatsu looks at the bigger picture.
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