Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will host US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday, ahead of a Washington deadline to reach a trade deal or face new tariffs, Tokyo said Thursday.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 25-percent tariff on all Japanese imports from August 1, in addition to tough levies already imposed on vehicles, steel and aluminium.

Ishiba said in a television interview this month that “We will not easily compromise. That’s why it is taking time and why it is tough”.

Japan’s tariffs envoy Ryosei Akazawa has travelled to Washington seven times since April for talks with top officials including Bessent, in a bid to persuade the Trump administration to scrap the plan.

But those meetings have not produced a deal, leaving Japanese businesses and consumers worried and frustrated.

Pundits have said Ishiba will be unable to engage in active negotiations with the United States until after an upper house election on Sunday that threatens to end his premiership.

Ishiba is facing falling approval ratings and several surveys have indicated his ruling coalition will likely lose its majority in the upper house.

The two leaders met last month on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada, and have had several phone calls.

Ishiba has repeated that Japan would not accept the planned tariffs, stressing that they could harm the economic strength of Japan, the biggest investor in the US economy.

AFP