Trump denies new tariffs on Japan autos “at this moment”

August 27, 2019

Washington, Aug. 26 (Jiji Press)--U.S. President Donald Trump, visiting France for a Group of Seven summit, said Monday he is "not at this moment" considering imposing additional automotive tariffs envisioned for national security reasons on imports from Japan.

The comment came after the United States reached a basic accord with Japan on a proposed bilateral trade pact on Sunday.

At the same time, Trump, speaking in press conference in Biarritz, France, after the G-7 summit ended Monday, expressed his discontent with the United States' massive trade deficit with Japan and hinted at the possibility of introducing the extra duties on Japanese cars in the future.

"Japan has had a tremendous trade surplus, imbalance with the United States for many, many years," he said. "We're taking these horrible, one-sided, stupid trade deals."

The president said Japan accepted the basic trade accord with the United States partly because the Asian country wanted to escape the additional U.S. auto tariffs. He apparently tried to highlight that his negotiating tactic of winning concessions by threatening to introduce high tariffs proved successful.

Trump is set to officially make a decision in November on whether to introduce the extra automotive tariffs of possibly up to 25 pct. "It's something I could do at a later date if I wanted to," the president told the press conference, leaving open the future possibility of imposing the new duties on Japanese imports.

The Trump administration, focused on next year's presidential election, is believed to have put priority on the protection of domestic manufacturers in advancing trade negotiations with Japan. Washington eventually succeeded in maintaining its current 2.5 pct tariff on automobile imports from Japan under the basic accord.

When asked after the press conference if Trump would be willing to remove the tariff on Japanese cars, he said, "Why would I do that?" "They send us millions and millions of cars," the president said, showing his unwillingness to open the U.S. auto market. Jiji Press