Kono urges Lighthizer to exempt Japan from new US tariffs

March 16, 2018

Washington- Visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono urged US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Thursday to exempt Japan from new US tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.

At their meeting in the US capital, Kono stressed that steel and aluminum exported from Japan, a key US ally in the Asia-Pacific region, do not pose a security threat to the United States, according to officials with access to the talks.

Lighthizer did not give his nod to the Japanese request, the officials said.

Kono, who arrived in Washington on Thursday evening, is scheduled to have talks with US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan on Friday, after Rex Tillerson was sacked as secretary of state by President Donald Trump earlier this week.

The Japanese minister will also meet Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Friday.

Ahead of an expected summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by May, Kono aims to confirm with the US officials the two allies' stance of pressuring North Korea to abandon its nuclear development.

He will also work with the US side on a planned US visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe early next month.

On Saturday, Kono will hold a meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Kang Kyung-wha, who is also on a US visit. Jiji Press