Tokyo, Feb 16 (UNI) Japan is again asking the United States for a waiver from the tariffs Washington is imposing, including the so-called “mutual tariffs,” Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said after his conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
“I conveyed our position that Japan should not be subject to measures known as mutual tariffs,” Iwaya told journalists.
In particular, Iwaya asked to exempt Japan from the 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imposed by the United States. Tokyo is also asking for an exception to the so-called “mutual tariffs,” the decree on the introduction of which was signed by US President Donald Trump last Thursday. This measure involves the introduction of retaliatory tariffs on imported products, similar in size to those that exporting countries have set on products from the United States.
The conversation also touched on the topic of possible tariffs on products of the Japanese automobile industry exported to the United States, the NHK broadcaster said. Earlier, Trump said that he planned to introduce duties on cars imported into the country “around April 2”.
More than a third of cars from Japanese manufacturers are exported to the United States. In addition, cars from Japanese companies that were produced at factories in Canada and Mexico are exported to the United States. In this regard, experts note that if tariffs on products imported to the United States are actually introduced, the impact on the Japanese automobile industry will be significant.
