• US negotiators were reluctant to lower levies, Nikkei reports
• Next meeting expected in mid-May

TOKYO: Tokyo’s envoy for US tariff talks said Saturday after a second round of negotiations that Japan was insisting Washington review all the levies as a precondition to a trade deal.

Japan, a key US ally and its biggest investor, is subject to the same 10 percent baseline tariffs imposed on most nations plus steeper levies on cars, steel and aluminium.

President Donald Trump also in early April announced “reciprocal” tariffs on Japan of 24 percent, but later put them on pause for 90 days along with those on other countries except China.

After arriving back in Japan, Ryosei Akazawa told reporters that the two sides “made progress” towards an agreement, but stressed Tokyo was insisting that all tariffs be reviewed.

“We have been telling them that the entire series of tariffs” — including on cars, auto parts, steel and aluminium, as well as reciprocal levies — “are regrettable and have strongly insisted they be revised”, Akazawa said.

“Unless this demand is acknowledged in an ultimate package, there is no way we can agree to a deal,” he said.

Automobiles accounted for around 28 percent of Japanese exports to the United States last year.

Earlier Saturday, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also reiterated to reporters that “Japan and the United States remain far apart, and unable to find common ground yet”.

On Saturday, the Trump administration slapped a new 25 percent import tax on auto parts including engines and transmissions.

The move was “regrettable”, Ishiba said, adding Japan would continue to call for its rethink as well.

AFP