Japan and US Reaffirm Trade Deal Despite Trump Tariff Shifts

Japan and the United States have confirmed they will advance cooperation on investing in strategic sectors and honour the other terms of a trade deal they reached last year, even though President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have changed significantly over time.

“We reaffirmed that last year’s agreement remains unchanged,” Japan’s Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa told reporters in Washington on Friday, after meeting Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer separately.

Akazawa said the US would not impose any higher tariff rates on goods from Japan than those agreed to bilaterally in July last year.

He also said he agreed with the US officials that the two countries would reinforce supply chains for critical minerals.

During his meeting with Greer on Friday, Akazawa said they shared the view that China’s “arbitrary export controls” posed a risk of causing “significant damage to the supply chains of both Japan and the United States”.

Japan has stuck to the trade deal’s terms, even after the US Supreme Court invalidated Trump’s sweeping country-specific tariffs in February.