Japan Plans to Retaliate against U.S. Tariffs amid Failed Negotiation Talks

As per the latest updates, Japan is considering imposition of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports worth USD 409 million in response to steep duties imposed by Trump government on steel and aluminium imports in the month of Mar’18.

While major economies like China and European Union (EU) have already responded to the U.S. decision with reciprocal threats, Japan has restrained itself from following their footsteps. However, this decision of retaliatory tariffs from Japan has come almost after two months when the negotiations with the U.S. government to include Japan in the list of exempted countries from tariffs have failed.

After the steep import tariffs on steel and aluminium were announced by the U.S. government in the month of March, majority of countries initiated their negotiations with the White House to earn exemptions. While U.S. gave temporary exemption to countries like Canada, EU and Mexico till 1 Jun’18, Brazil, Argentina, and Australia were given permanent exemption while South Korea was announced with quota on certain quantity of steel imports. However, none of the benefit was given to Japan which is U.S. major trade ally.

Reports suggest that Japan’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. exports would be equivalent value to the duties imposed by U.S. via tariffs and that the Japanese government is preparing to notify this plant to WTO (World Trade Organisation) in coming week.

Japanese government official said in their statement that while U.S. has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium based on the ground their imports are threat to country’s national security, this was not true in the case of Japan.

According to U.S. customs data, Japan’s share in U.S. total steel imports in 2017 stood at meagre 5% at 1.73 MnT and that these imports have registered a fall of 11% in 2017 against previous year.

The chairman of Japan Steel Information Center said that “There is simply no justification for these misguided tariffs to remain on Japanese steel products. As long as we have not seen the US government listening to our legitimate claim, there is no other way than for the Japanese government to pursue retaliation through the WTO and we trust this action will lead to early, successful settlement”.