TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Japan says 'progress' but no 'agreement yet' in US tariff talks
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Japan's Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa, the country's envoy for tariff talks with the US, answers questions during a parliamentary committee session in Tokyo on April 21, 2025. (AFP/Kazuhiro Nogi)
J
apan said Saturday it was making "progress" in talks aimed at easing US President Donald Trump's tariffs but cautioned that the two sides have not found "a point of agreement yet".
Japan, a key US ally and its biggest investor, is subject to the same 10 percent baseline tariffs imposed on most nations plus steeper levies on cars, steel and aluminum.
Trump also announced an additional 24 percent "reciprocal" tariff on Japan in early April, but later paused it along with similar measures on other countries until early July.
Japan wants all levies announced by Trump lifted.
During a fifth round of talks, "we further made progress towards an agreement", Ryosei Akazawa, Tokyo's trade envoy, told Japanese reporters in Washington.
But, he added: "We've not been able to find a point of agreement yet".
Akazawa said Tokyo was hoping to seal a deal "as soon as possible", however, talks may still be ongoing when a summit of the Group of Seven wealthy nations starts on June 15.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Trump are reportedly planning to hold bilateral talks around the time of the G7 summit in Canada.
Washington's 25-percent auto tariffs are particularly painful for Tokyo, with roughly eight percent of all Japanese jobs tied to the sector.
Japan's economy, the world's fourth largest, contracted 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2025, adding to pressure on the unpopular Ishiba ahead of upper house elections expected in July.
