Aso shows concern over U.S. protectionist moves

April 22, 2018

Washington- Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso expressed Tokyo's concern over the United States' protectionist moves, at a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Washington on Friday.

It is not good that inward-looking moves are increasing in the United States, Aso, also deputy prime minister, said, adding that such developments would cause major adverse impacts to spread from the United States.

He also called on the U.S. side to exclude Japanese products from additional steel and aluminum tariffs that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump introduced last month as a measure to counter a threat to national security under Section 232 of the country's 1962 Trade Expansion Act.

Japanese steel and aluminum products are not affecting U.S. national security, Aso stressed.

Some of U.S. allies were excluded from the additional metal tariffs for the time being, but Japan is among many other countries covered by the measure.

Aso and Mnuchin touched on foreign exchange issues in the course of their discussions on the global economy. But Aso said that they did not focus only on exchange rates.

The bilateral meeting took place on the sidelines of a two-day meeting of finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies in the U.S. capital through Friday. Jiji Press