Tariffs imposed on Japanese goods by US President Donald Trump’s administration are a “national crisis,” Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday as he prepared to hold cross-party talks on mitigating the impact.
Japanese firms are the biggest investors into the United States but Trump on Thursday announced a hefty 24-percent levy on imports from the close Washington ally.
The levies “can be called a national crisis and the government is doing its best with all parties” to lessen the impact, PM Ishiba said in parliament.
He called however for a “calm-headed” approach to negotiations with Trump’s administration, which has also imposed 25-percent tariffs on auto imports which came into force this week.
PM Ishiba on Thursday told his ministers “to study closely” the tariffs and “to take all measures necessary including financing support” for domestic industries and protecting employment, government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.
“As it is necessary for all parties including the opposition bloc to study and take measures, Prime Minister Ishiba will meet with each of the party leaders and listen to their opinions” later in the day, Hayashi said Friday.
PM Ishiba’s meetings with party leaders are aimed at laying the groundwork for the supplementary budget bill, as his minority government needs cooperation from the opposition to pass it in parliament, the Asahi Shimbun daily reported.
On Friday, Hayashi repeated that Trump’s sweeping new tariffs are “extremely regrettable” and that Japan has “serious concerns” about whether they comply with World Trade Organization rules and US-Japan trade agreements.
PM Ishiba has instructed his ministers to “continue strongly demanding the United States to review” the tariff measures, Hayashi said.
Japan’s main Nikkei 225 index fell more than three percent on Friday, adding to a 2.7-percent drop on Thursday after the S&P 500 on Wall Street dropped by the most in a day since 2020.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)