Japan's Lead Trade Negotiator Defends Tariffs Deal With US

Tokyo – Japan's chief trade negotiator has defended a tariffs deal with the US, expressing respect for President Donald Trump and calling him a“tough negotiator.”

Trade envoy Ryosei Akazawa noted that the pact setting on most Japanese exports to the US at 15 per cent was comparable to a deal between Washington and the European Union. Unlike the EU, Japan did not have to lower its tariffs on US goods, he noted.

Japan has also committed to investing USD 550 billion in US projects.

Trump initially set Japan's tariff rate to increase by 25 per cent.

Critics in Japan had ridiculed Akazawa's repeated trips to the US to work toward a deal as a waste of taxpayer money, saying he should pitch a tent on the White House lawn.

Akazawa said talks with his counterpart, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Trump and others in his administration were tense at first. By the time of his eighth trip, a rapport was established enabling the two sides to set an agreement by July.

“President Trump was a tough negotiator, but I kept insisting, and he would listen graciously. I have all the respect for him,” he told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.“It was a good round of negotiations.”

“It goes without saying that, with any government negotiations, there will always be someone who says Japan lost out, no matter what,” Akazawa said.

The double-digit tariffs Trump has imposed on imports from various nations were a bitter blow to Japan, a key US ally in Asia. Tokyo especially objected to 25 per cent tariffs Trump ordered for imports of steel and aluminum and automobiles.

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