Daily Times

The United States said Friday it had opened talks with Japan aimed at reducing US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports imposed under former president Donald Trump after Washington reached a deal on the same issue with the European Union. “The United States and Japan will seek to resolve bilateral concerns in this area,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said.”

“The United States and Japan have a historic alliance, built on mutual trust and respect,” Tai and Raimondo said in a statement. Raimondo is due in Tokyo next week for talks with Japanese officials. Her first official Asian trip will also take her to Malaysia and Singapore, where she will meet with officials from Australia and New Zealand. In June 2018, Trump imposed tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum from several economies, including the European Union and Japan. The Republican said he was acting on national security grounds, a claim rejected by critics. Last week, the United States and the EU announced they would lift those tariffs in what President Joe Biden called a “new era in transatlantic cooperation.” The conflict had poisoned trade links between Washington and Brussels.

The US-EU deal will allow limited quantities of European steel and aluminum products to be imported by the United States without tariffs.

In exchange, the EU is lifting threatened retaliatory steps, which had been set to take effect on December 1. Japan and the United States are among the world’s top steel producers, ranked behind China, the European Union, and India, according to data from the World Steel Association.