Japan asked the United States to ensure that the impact of the new 15% global tariff, which should come into force this Tuesday, the 24th, is not greater than that of the bilateral trade agreement signed in 2025.
Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ryosei Akazawa, insisted, in a telephone conversation with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, that “the treatment given to Japan is guaranteed to be no less favorable” than previously agreed, the ministry said in a statement.
Japanese Government spokesman Minoru Kihara declared at a press conference that the archipelago will study “thoroughly” the decision of the US Supreme Court, which on Friday blocked the White House’s previous trade policy.
Kihara added that Japan is “closely and with interest” following the ramifications of the new global tariff on the bilateral trade agreement signed in July.
The agreement provides for Japanese investment commitments valued at US$550 billion (€467.3 billion) and a reduction in tariffs on Japanese products, including automobiles, from 25% to 15%.
The first projects announced last week, valued at $36 billion (€30.6 billion), include the largest natural gas infrastructure in the western US state of Ohio, a crude oil export facility and a synthetic diamond facility.
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump announced that the new global customs tariff would increase from 10% to 15%, “effective immediately.”
This fee will be in addition to “normal customs tariffs already in force”, said the Republican president, adding that “all agreements” remain valid and that Washington will just “proceed differently”.
The announcement came one day after Trump announced a 10% global tariff on all countries for a period of 150 days.
Hours earlier, the US Supreme Court ruled, by six votes to three, that the US Government exceeded the powers invoked to impose so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on Washington’s trading partners.
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