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Donald Trump said he would consider imposing a tariff on Japanese exports if the US deficit of the United States is not eliminated with the Asian state and pledged to reveal the “mutual” definitions on other countries next week.
Speaking at the White House, alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shigro Eshiba, the president warned that the customs tariff was an option to address the trade deficit with Japan, the most important American ally in the Indian Pacific Ocean.
Trump said Washington and Tokyo will work together to reduce the trade deficit, saying, “They also want fairness.”
In response to a question by the reporters sitting next to Ishiba in the Oval Office if he will ask for more concessions from Tokyo, Trump said: “I think it will be very easy for Japan. We have a great relationship. I don’t think we will have any problem at all.”
In 2024, the goods deficit with Japan were 68 billion dollars, compared to $ 55 billion in 2020 before the end of his first term.
Comments about the new definitions were distinguished by another escalation in Trump’s speech, and the United States is approaching the edge of a multi -party trade war with some of its closest business partners and security allies.
Trump also said he had not changed his opinion on opposing the proposed acquisition of Nippon Steel, at a value of $ 15 billion in US steel. Companies are sued the United States government after the Biden administration prevented the deal in January.
The US President also said that he would reveal a “mutual tariff” in the unveiled countries next week, in a hint of the comprehensive fees he pledged in the expansion of imports in the United States.
“I will announce that next week, the mutual trade, so that we deal with other countries equally,” Trump told reporters at the Oval Office on Friday. During the presidential campaign last year, he repeatedly warned that he would impose a global tariff on imports in the United States.
Earlier this week, Trump suspended until March 1 his plan to impose a severe tariff on Mexico and Canada, the largest commercial partner in the United States, but continued to impose a 10 percent imposition on imports from China. Beijing responded with the retaliatory definitions that will enter this week.