Japan Refuses To Sacrifice National Interests As 2nd Round Of Trump Tariff Talks Loom

Japanese Premier Shigeru Ishiba delivered his strongest response yet to President Donald Trump’s tariff push, signaling that Japan will not continue bowing to all U.S. demands.

“If Japan concedes everything, we won’t be able to secure our national interest,” Ishiba told parliament on Monday, according to Bloomberg. 

“We have been working to protect Japanese agriculture using various methods, such as tariffs and minimum access rules. We must continue to protect it — and of course, we must also protect consumer safety.”

His remarks came a day after he said on NHK television that the ongoing Japan-U.S. trade negotiations should serve as a model for talks between the U.S. and other countries. 

On U.S. pressure to ease Japan’s automobile safety standards, Ishiba reportedly said the two sides would “discuss [the issue] in detail and avoid accusations of unfairness while acknowledging the differences” in regulations. 

Japan is seeking an exemption from a blanket 24% U.S. tariff, which was temporarily reduced to 10% for 90 days earlier this month. Like other countries, it still faces a 25% duty on car, steel, and aluminum exports. 

Over the weekend, local media reported that Japan may propose increasing imports of U.S. rice and soybeans, and consider relaxing safety standards for imported vehicles to advance talks.

U.S. automakers have long criticized non-tariff barriers in Japan, according to Bloomberg. Still, Ishiba dismissed the likelihood of strong demand for left-hand drive U.S. cars in a country where traffic flows on the left.

Tokyo’s chief negotiator held talks with Trump’s team in Washington, D.C. last week, with Ishiba thanking the U.S. president on X. 

“We look forward to a productive meeting that will lead to the further development of our bilateral relations,” Ishiba had said.

A second round of negotiations are expected to be held at the end of this month. 

The iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ), which tracks the overall Japanese equity market, finished nearly 2% higher in the last session and climbed 0.63% in after-hours trading.

Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the performance of the benchmark S&P 500, ended Thursday 0.14% higher while the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1, which tracks the Nasdaq-100, ended marginally lower.

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