Japan Says Trump to Correct ‘Extremely Regrettable’ Error in Tariff Order
Tensions have been mounting between the United States and Japan as both sides appear to have starkly different interpretations of a trade deal finalized last month.
Reporting from Tokyo
The Trump administration has agreed to correct an “extremely regrettable” blunder in the execution of its trade agreement with Japan, the country’s top trade negotiator said in Washington on Thursday.
In negotiations last month, Japanese officials believed they had secured a deal that, in return for pledges to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the United States and open its market to more American goods, would set a standard tariff rate of 15 percent for all of its products shipped to the United States.
In a July 31 executive order, the Trump administration outlined a similar scheme for the European Union. But Japan, along with other trade partners, was issued a new tariff rate that would be “stacked” on top of existing ones. In Japan’s case, that raised tariffs on items such as its beef exports to the United States from 26.4 percent to 41.4 percent.
Now, after Japan’s chief trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, went to Washington this week for his ninth round of trade talks, Mr. Akazawa said he had secured a promise from the Trump administration to fix the error. Local media had earlier reported that the United States was not planning to revise the presidential order, citing unidentified White House officials.
This latest development is another example of how a deal with no publicly disclosed written joint agreement — assembled quickly just days before higher threatened tariffs were set to take effect — is causing confusion and growing tension between the United States and one of its top allies and trading partners.
In the weeks since the U.S.-Japan trade agreement was concluded last month, some Japanese officials have bristled at implications from the Trump administration that it would control Japan’s $550 billion investment pledge and that 90 percent of the profit from it would go to the United States.
Shigeru Ishiba, Japan’s prime minister, has also been under fire for not securing a clear date for reduced auto tariffs, now set at 25 percent, to take effect. Those tariffs were one of the key concessions Tokyo gained in its talks with the Trump administration. They apply to Japan’s biggest export to the North American market and have been pummeling the profits of its auto industry.
“Washington is just randomly shooting and they are shooting some like-minded countries from behind,” said Taro Kono, a member of Japan’s House of Representatives, speaking in a news briefing in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Mr. Kono, a former minister for foreign affairs during the first Trump administration, suggested that Japan and other countries may have to consider forming an international convention to deal with U.S. tariffs. A spokesman for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Akazawa said on Thursday that he had requested a reduction in automobile tariffs during his meetings in Washington with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. In response, he said, the U.S. side indicated that President Trump would sign an executive order directing automobile tariffs to be reduced and rectifying Japan’s stacked-tariff situation.
Mr. Akazawa said that nothing had been decided on when the corrections would be made but that the United States would act in a “timely” manner.
River Akira Davis covers Japan for The Times, including its economy and businesses, and is based in Tokyo.