Washington DC: US President Donald Trump cast doubt on reaching a trade deal with Japan, a day after threatening higher tariffs on Japanese exports to the United States, claiming the country won’t buy American rice, CNN reported.
“We’ve dealt with Japan. I’m not sure if we’re gonna make a deal, I doubt it, with Japan,” he told reporters on Air Force One on Tuesday. “They and others are so spoiled from having ripped us off for 30, 40 years that it’s really hard for them to make a deal.”
As July 9, the end of the 90-day pause on Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs,” approaches, US trade partners including Japan are looking to strike deals that they hope will appease the American president. Japanese exports to the US were hit with a 24% levy when Trump launched his global tariff offensive on April 2, before pausing them for three months.
Trump’s comment came as Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya visited Washington for a Quad meeting, along with counterparts from Australia and India. It also followed Japan’s tariff negotiator Ryosei Akazawa’s seventh trip to Washington for trade talks last week.
Japan is a key trade partner and security ally of the US in East Asia, though relations between the two have been tested by Trump’s aggressive tariffs.
On Tuesday, Trump also said that he does not plan to extend the pause on tariffs beyond July 9.
“I’m not thinking about a pause,” he said, when asked by a reporter if he was considering extending the breathing room.
“Some countries, we won’t even allow to trade. But for the most part, we’re gonna determine a number,” he added, referring to the tariff rate. On Monday, Trump first accused Japan of not buying rice from the US in a post on social media. That claim, however, is not true. Last year, Japan bought USD 298 million worth of rice from the US, according to the US Census Bureau. Between January and April of this year, Japan bought USD 114 million worth of rice.
But Trump repeated the claim on Tuesday. (ANI)
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