U.S., Japan reach deal on steel tariffs, Trump-era tariffs to be lifted
Officials at the U.S. Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said on Monday local time that the U.S. will suspend the 25 percent tariff on steel imports from Japan, but tariffs above that amount will still be imposed. The U.S. and Japan have reached an agreement to roll back U.S. tariffs on Japanese steel products under former U.S. President Donald Trump, which will take effect on April 1, the officials said.
It is understood that in 2017, the United States imported about 1.7 million tons of steel from Japan, the most recent year not affected by tariffs. In 2019, imports fell to 1.1 million tons, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The settlement is similar to the agreement reached by the United States and the European Union last October that ended punitive measures against as much as $10 billion in each other’s goods.
The U.S. and European Union are trying to use their deal to reach a broader global deal to address off-market excess capacity and punish countries that fall short of carbon steel and aluminum targets, officials said, but Japan has so far not stepped in. process. They also said Japan wanted the talks to focus on steel, so the country’s aluminum exports were not covered by Monday’s deal, which would still face a 10 percent tariff.
