Japan PM says Trump tariffs a 'national crisis'

Japan's main Nikkei 225 scale fell much than 3 percent connected Friday, adding to a 2.7-percent driblet connected Thursday aft the S&P 500 connected Wall Street dropped by the astir successful a time since 2020. Photo: Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP
Source: AFP

US President Donald Trump's tariffs connected Japanese goods are a "national crisis", Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday up of cross-party talks connected mitigating the impact.

Japanese firms are the biggest investors into the United States but Trump connected Thursday announced a hefty 24-percent levy connected imports from the adjacent US state arsenic portion of planetary "reciprocal" levies.

The measures "can beryllium called a nationalist situation and the authorities is doing its champion with each parties" to lessen the impact, Ishiba said successful parliament.

He called nevertheless for a "calm-headed" attack to negotiations with Trump's administration, which has besides imposed 25-percent tariffs connected car imports which came into unit this week.

Bank of Japan politician Kazuo Ueda said meantime that tariffs "can beryllium a origin successful downward unit connected the planetary and nationalist economies".

Ishiba connected Thursday told his ministers "to survey closely" the tariffs and "to instrumentality each measures indispensable including financing support" for home industries and protecting jobs, authorities spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.

Ishiba's meetings with enactment leaders aboriginal Friday were aimed astatine laying the groundwork for the supplementary fund bill, arsenic his number authorities needs absorption enactment to walk it successful parliament, the Asahi Shimbun regular reported.

On Friday, Hayashi repeated that Trump's sweeping caller tariffs are "extremely regrettable" and that Japan has "serious concerns" astir whether they comply with World Trade Organization rules and US-Japan commercialized agreements.

Japan's main Nikkei 225 scale fell much than 3 percent connected Friday, adding to a 2.7-percent driblet connected Thursday aft the S&P 500 connected Wall Street dropped by the astir successful a time since 2020.

'Extremely grave'

Last year, vehicles accounted for astir 28 percent of Japan's 21.3 trillion yen ($142 billion) of US-bound exports. Photo: Richard A. Brooks / AFP
Source: AFP

Major Japanese concern lobby the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) said Trump's tariffs "would person an highly sedate interaction connected the Japanese economy".

"We powerfully impulse the authorities to proceed its persistent negotiations for the exemption from tariff measures and to instrumentality each imaginable measures to minimise the interaction connected tiny and medium-sized enterprises and tiny businesses... by processing a elaborate consultation strategy and strengthening currency absorption support," the JCCI said Thursday.

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) besides called for authorities assistance for its members, which marque up an important pillar of the world's fourth-biggest economy.

The manufacture has "consistently called for cardinal betterment to simplify and easiness the load of automobile-related taxation, (and) we kindly petition broad enactment measures to guarantee that Japan's automotive manufacture can support its instauration arsenic a manufacturing base, done the revitalization of the home market", it said.

JAMA said its members person invested a cumulative full of much than $66 cardinal successful US manufacturing arsenic of 2024, generating implicit 110,000 nonstop US jobs and supporting much than 2.2 cardinal others.

"We person agelong believed that becoming an integral portion of the US car manufacture -- done section concern and occupation instauration -- is the astir sustainable way guardant for the car industries of some countries," it said.

Japanese carmakers vessel astir 1.45 cardinal cars to the United States from Canada and Mexico, wherever they run factories, Bloomberg News reported.

By comparison, Japan exports 1.49 cardinal cars straight to the United States, portion Japanese automakers marque 3.3 cardinal cars successful America.

In Japan, the car assemblage is simply a cardinal industry, employing astir 5.6 cardinal radical straight oregon indirectly.

Vehicles accounted for astir 28 percent of Japan's 21.3 trillion yen ($142 billion) of US-bound exports past year.

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Source: AFP